Prove Me Wrong
by ophalynjt
Summary: Damon hates humans and Elena hates vampires…can they prove eachother wrong and find that maybe what you need comes in the form of the thing you never expected. AR
1. Chapter 1

A/N:

This is my first TVD fanfic. I have come to really love Damon and Elena…especially Damon. I am at the moment pretty obsessed with this show and one night while watching Pride and Prejudice I just kept thinking that well Damon and Elena are a little like Elizabeth and Darcy. So this is my little take on a Damon and Elena Pride and Prejudice but don't take that too literally because I'm really just using the model that you judge someone at first my who they are and where they come from but find that this person is not what you originally thought they were.

I've been writing this down for awhile and it's consumed me so much that it took me longer to finish my Gilmore Girls fanfic Facebook Friends, but since I've just finished that one I told myself that I would wait to publish this one before I had more chapters typed out but I just couldn't wait anymore so here it is.

There are some things are the same but this story really is AR. Hope you enjoy and please review…they make me happy and want to get these chapters out.

O

* * *

**One**

**Not What I thought**

I always knew the town I lived in, Mystic Falls, was different than other places. I just could never quite put my finger on it until recently. My family was one of the founding families of Mystic Falls, a high distinction in this town. After my parents died I was given a choice to join the Founder's council or pass it up. No one would or could tell me what the council was exactly but in the end I agreed. Now I kind of wish I hadn't.

The town that I had lived in my entire life and loved apparently had a history of vampires. Unbelievable right? Vampires was something that was only supposed to exist in books and movies, definitely not real life but apparently since about 1864 vampires have existed in Mystic Falls. Apparently from what the council knew there were currently none in the town but they would show up every so often and make a mess of things until the council eventually killed them or drove them out of town.

As much as I wish my parents were still alive I'm glad that I wasn't in the dark anymore about this town's deepest secret, so you can imagine my surprise when my Aunt Jenna's boyfriend and the town vampire hunter and my history teacher told me in confidence that his best friend was coming for a visit and oh yeah he just happened to be a vampire.

"How can you, a vampire hunter bring a vampire into Mystic Falls?" I ask Alaric incredulously after he told me. "A vampire Alaric."

"It's a long complicated story Elena." Alaric said shaking his head. "The point is he's a vampire but he's also my friend and I'm telling you he's safe."

"He's a vampire Ric. After everything you and the council have told me, how can you know tell me that he, a vampire, is safe?" I counter.

"Look you trust me right?" he asks and I nod my head after a moment. "Then trust me on this. Damon Salvatore, while being a sarcastic jerk is safe. He's not a threat to you or this town. You have my word on that."

I thought about his words for a moment before turning back to look at him, "Does the council know you're bringing a vampire into town?"

"No which is why I'm coming to you about this. They won't like it no matter how many assurances I make to them so I'm planning on keeping this from them but I need someone to back me up on this if it happens to get out."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm confident that Damon won't do anything to out his vampire status but just in case I'd like to be able to tell the council that I had the backing of one of the council members." he explains.

"And you think the backing of the youngest and newest member of the council is going to make a difference." I say rolling my eyes.

"I get your point, but the fact is everyone on that council has been at this for awhile and the few vampires they have encountered were bad and they don't understand that they're not all like that. If I tell them that my friend who happens to be a vampire is coming, well they're more than likely to react first and ask questions later." he pointed out.

I thought about it and knew he was right. The council was fairly trigger happy when it came to vampires. "You promise that he won't hurt anyone because if he does it's not just on you it's on me too."

"I know and I promise." he said sincerely.

"Ugh I can't believe I'm agreeing to this." I say putting my head in my hands. "How is this going to work anyways? You know the council is going to be suspicious of anyone new that comes into town, especially if they only make an appearance at night."

"Actually that's not going to be a problem. Damon actually has family here – in fact his father Giuseppe is one of the founding members of this town, but the Salvatore's are still here."

"That's right he's a Salvatore so he's related to Zach."

"That's correct."

"So couldn't you just use Zach as your confidant on the council?"

"He knows but he's also related to Damon so…"

"So you need someone else." I say, "Ok but how does he plan on getting by the whole coming out at dark only thing?" I asked and Alaric just smiled "What?"

"Oh you'll see."

* * *

It was another three days until Damon Salvatore made his appearance in Mystic Falls and he couldn't have planned a better entrance. He arrived during the annual July Fourth town picnic – in broad daylight. He rolled into town in his classic blue Ford Mustang and everyone turned to look. Actually it was slightly hard not to, because the car's engine was pretty loud. When he coolly stepped out of the car and into the sun I couldn't quite comprehend the fact that Alaric who had been standing right next to me just told me that was in fact Damon.

What?

He was a vampire, but he was walking outside in the middle of the day, under the bright sun. How was this even possible? Was this what Alaric had meant when he said I would see?

Alaric approached him holding out his hand and Damon took it with a small smile playing on the corner of his lips and they gave eachother what most would consider a 'guy hug' complete with the taps on the back. Damon must have said something to Alaric because he laughed and Zach approached and Damon greeted him as well by putting a hand on his shoulder then turned to face Jenna as she approached their little group. He took her hand and kissed it and even from my vantage point I was pretty sure Jenna was blushing.

"Who's the hottie?" Caroline asked as she came up beside me with Bonnie in tow.

"What?" I ask absentmindedly continuing to look over at them.

"The hottie with Mr. Salzman, Jenna and Zach." Caroline said as she checked Damon out.

"Um…oh…that's uh…Damon Salvatore."

"Salvatore? Is he related to Zach?" Bonnie asked curiously.

"Yeah I think so."

"Well he's delicious. I could totally go for him." Caroline said.

"He's definitely hot but he also looks older and if you've forgotten Care you're still jail bait. I don't think you mom, the sheriff would be too thrilled." Bonnie reminded her rolling her eyes.

"Hey I can keep my mouth shut, especially for him. He definitely looks worth the consequences." Caroline said before she suddenly started to fix her clothes. "Oh they're headed this way."

I looked up and sure enough the four of them were heading over to where we were standing. As they approached I was able to get a good look at Damon for the first time. He was wearing sun glasses but I could tell he was handsome with his dark hair and chiseled face. He was wearing all black but I could still make out his lean muscular physique. Caroline was right, he was hot but I also had to remember that he was also a vampire. The odd thing was even with his dark sunglasses I sensed he was looking directly at me as they walked over.

"Elena this is the friend I was telling you about, Damon Salvatore." Alaric said motioning between them, "And Damon this is the young lady I was telling you about, Elena Gilbert. She also happens to be Jenna's niece."

Damon took off his sunglasses and I was surprised by the intensity in his crystal blue eyes. I heard a small gasp come from Caroline behind me but I ignored it. The way Damon was looking at me, well he seemed to be studying me closely and there was a small look of confusion in his eyes. "Kat…I mean Elena…it's um nice to meet you." he said extending his hand and I just looked at it for a moment not taking it until Jenna nudged me.

"Oh um uh sorry." I said as I finally took his hand and I immediately felt a jolt of electricity go through me. He must have felt it too because another look of confusion passed through his face but it quickly left. "It's uh good to meet you too Damon. Ric has told me a lot a bout you."

"Really well not too much I hope." he said glancing at Alaric, "He has told me a lot about you as well but don't worry they're all good. I hope they're all true." he said looking at me intently and I instantly understood his meaning and I nodded my head.

"What is Salzman trying to set them up or something?" I heard Caroline complain to Bonnie behind me but Bonnie just shushed her.

"Elena won't you introduce me to your lovely friends?" he said motioning to Bonnie and Caroline and the latter just beamed.

"Oh uh this Caroline and Bonnie, my best friends."

He took Caroline's hand and kissed it and she visibly blushed a deep red. He then took Bonnie's hand but they both pulled away almost instantly. From the look that passed through both of their faces is looked as if touching the other had hurt them somehow. I looked at Bonnie trying to find out what happened but she was just staring at her hands looking confused.

"Bonnie what's wrong?" I asked concerned but Bonnie just shook her head.

"Bonnie was it?" Damon asked his eyes shining as the looked down at her, "What did you say your last name was?"

"It's uh…it's Bennett. Bonnie Bennett." she answered looking at him.

"Bennett…well that's just freakin…" Damon started to say but Alaric silenced him with a look and he just grimaced before looking back at us. "If you'll excuse me ladies, I believe I'm parched and in need of a drink."

He abruptly left with Zach trying to catch up to him leaving the rest of us wondering what had just happened. At least I was wondering. While Caroline and Jenna started talking about Damon's eyes, Alaric and I stepped away from them and I gave him the meanest glare I could muster. "He's a vampire that walks in the sun! Was that your surprise because that's more of a nightmare!" I say angrily, "How the hell is that even possible?"

"Relax Elena, it's actually good thing. Damon walking in the sun means people don't get suspicious that he's a vampire and before you go freaking out that anyone could be a vampire, don't." Alaric explained, "It requires a special object, a lapis lazuli, and a spell. Trust me Damon's one of the very few vampires that can walk in the sun."

I shook my head unsure of what to think. My gaze wandered to where Damon was standing with Zach, "I don't like this…he seems on edge. I hope the drink he was referring to isn't someone's…"

"No of course not." he said cutting me off. "He's probably just looking for some alcohol. He's a bit of drinker."

"And that's so much better, a drunk vampire." I said sarcastically as I continued to look at Damon who had in deed found the bar, "Well needless to say if he hurts or kills anyone while he's here it's on you Alaric."

"Trust me, I know." he said glancing over at Damon as well. "But Damon won't do that."

"How can you be so sure? You're telling me in all certainty that Damon won't be feeding off any humans while he's in Mystic Falls."

"I'm telling you that he won't hurt or kill anyone. He mainly sticks to the blood bags but has been known to feed from the person that he's well intimate with." He said and I put my hand up to stop him from going on, "But, but never enough to actually kill them. It's just a part of the…well you know but he never hurts them."

"Eww. Yes feeding on people doesn't hurt…at all." I say glaring at him and he glares at me right back, "It's just he feeds on people, I don't know how to be ok about this. I can't believe you talked me into this being ok. He's a vampire."

"And he's different." he said, "Look Damon is the first vampire you've ever met so you don't have anything to compare him to just the stories you've heard. Trust me when I say Damon is different. He doesn't find the thrill in the hunt anymore. He's not malicious and he doesn't kill people for sport like many of his kind do. Yes he may have been like that in the past, but he's definitely not like anymore."

He looked at me and I'm not sure what he saw but he put his hand on my shoulder, "I know it's hard but you should give him a chance Elena."

I thought about it as I continued to watch Damon make this way through the citizens of Mystic Falls. The women all looked at him like he was a piece of meat ready to be eaten which was rather ironic if you think about it.

I was weary about Damon but for some reason that I couldn't pin point I believed that he wouldn't hurt anyone. Suddenly he looked up and his eyes met mine and a smirk graced his lips and he gave me a cocky little wave with his fingers and I quickly looked away trying not to blush for being caught looking at him.

"Ok fine I'll give him a chance." I say looking at Alaric seriously, "But you had better make sure he doesn't go around compelling people either just to get his way around here. I don't want him taking away anyone's free will either. You'd better prove me wrong about him Alaric." I warn before I walk away.

* * *

I had spent the rest of the better part of the day with my friends and my boyfriend Matt. It had been fun and carefree except for the fact that Bonnie had decided to leave early after acting strangely following her encounter with Damon earlier. I had tried to ask her what was wrong, but she wouldn't budge and open up to me about what had happened. Then when she suddenly decided to leave, I started to get worried.

I wanted to go after her but I had made a promise to Matt that today we would spend time together since he had been working so much lately to try to save up money for college and we barely ever got to spend time together. As it began to grow darker, I went to my car to get my sweater and the blankets so we could sit and watch the fireworks. As I was walking back I heard Alaric and Damon talking. I knew I should just keep on walking, but I couldn't help it and I ducked behind a tree and listened.

"This stupid town has not changed much with its picnics and festivals. It's all so _charming_." Damon commented sarcastically. "I can't believe you talked me into coming back to this stupid Podunk town."

"As I recall it didn't take much convincing and you were the one that convinced me to move here in the first place." Alaric said.

"Well really what better place for a vampire hunter than a place that always seems to have a vampire lurking around the corner and right now that's me."

"Either way you're the reason why I came to Mystic Falls in the first place but I'm not complaining because I happen to like it." Alaric stated.

"Eh to each his own." Damon said, "So is there a certain reason why you like it here and by that I mean a certain blonde bubbly beautiful babe I met this afternoon."

"If you're referring to Jenna, then well uh yeah she's the main reason why I'm thinking about putting roots down here."

"Roots? Here? I was just asking if she was the reason why you liked it here I didn't know we've moved on to roots already." Damon commented. "My, my please don't tell me you're thinking about getting hitched again Ric because you and I both know how wonderfully that turned out for you last time."

Last time? Alaric was married?

"Yes well Jenna is definitely not Isobel and well yes I am going to ask her to marry me."

Damon didn't say anything for a moment and just looked at Alaric thoughtfully before he finally put his hand on his shoulder. "Well then Ric I'm happy for you. I'm glad you'll be getting laid on at least once per week basis. The moodiness was not very becoming on you. "

"Thanks Damon." Alaric responds shaking his head.

"So the lovely Jenna huh? Well she seems like a find woman."

"Yeah but I'm not exactly marrying just her, she's the guardian for Elena and Jeremy Gilbert as well."

"Oh yes the ice queen and the angry teenager."

Ice queen?

"Ice queen? I don't think I have ever heard anyone refer to Elena as an ice queen before." Alaric commented.

"Oh but trust me she is. Don't get me wrong she's…cute, attractive, but behind it is a girl who doesn't let the people around her in, not really anyways. She doesn't like things out of place, including the people around her. She needs her life in a certain order and she's a judgy one and I'm fairly certain she can be just as cruel and mean as I am, possibly even worse because you don't see it coming." Damon explained.

"You barely even spoke to her. How on earth did you get all of that from a few exchanged words? Did you acquire some new abilities since the last time I saw you that I don't know about?" Alaric asked dumfounded.

"No I'm just perceptive as always and that girl has ice written all over her it's just masked behind a sweet face." He said then got quiet for a moment. "She looks like her, they could be twins."

"Who?"

He didn't say anything but he must have made some kind of motion and I almost thought for a second that I was caught until Alaric started speaking again. "Oh you mean…but then oh that's why you started to say her name."

"Yeah."

"Well I'm going to say the same thing to you that I told Elena." Alaric said, "Just get to know her before you make any judgments, especially if she is the reason why you're calling her an ice queen. From what you've told me they're definitely nothing alike."

I remind him of someone?

"See I told you she was judgy."

"Damon." Alaric warned.

"Fine I'll hold off but I know I'm right."

"So what was that whole thing with Bonnie Bennett earlier?" Alaric asked changing the subject. "You seemed, for lack of a better word scared when you found out her last name. Care to share?"

"No not scared just surprised. Let's just say I have a long history with the Bennett women of Mystic Falls and not all of it good. I like to keep out of their way as much as possible."

"I don't know that does sound an awful lot like you're scared to me." Alaric said laughing.

"Please I don't feel any of those stupid petty human emotions and I am especially not scared of a teenage girl." Damon said, "but I do value my undead life which is why staying away from any woman with the last name of Bennett is a good idea for me and it also appeases the terms of that stupid promise."

"What promise?"

"Well remember when I told you the story about how I got this…well let's just say I made a pact with…"

"Elena! Elena are you over here?" Matt yelled walking around and Damon suddenly stopped talking.

Crap Matt!

"Oh hey Mr. Salzman, have you seen Elena? She was supposed to go to her car and grab her sweater and a blanket but she still hasn't come back and the fireworks are starting soon." Matt said concerned.

"No I haven't seen her." Alaric said.

"Oh but I think I have. Isn't that her over by those trees." Damon said and they all turned and looked.

Crap. I came out from behind the tree sheepishly and Alaric looked at Damon who had a small scowl on his face.

"Elena what were you doing over there?" Matt asked walking up to me and taking the blanket from my arms. "I thought something had happened to you."

"Oh I uh…um I thought I saw an owl or something." I said lying horribly. Behind Matt's shoulder I could see Damon looking at me, amusement from my lie dancing in his eyes.

"That must have been the owl I saw earlier as well." Damon said looking right at me before turning his attention to Matt and extending his hand. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Alaric, I mean Mr. Salzman's BFF, Damon Salvatore."

"Oh hi, nice to me you. Matt Donovan." Matt said shaking Damon's hand.

"So are the two of you?" Damon asked looking between the two of us.

"Yeah Elena's my girlfriend." Matt said smiling as he put his arm around me and I plastered a smile on face at his actions. What was Damon up to?

"Aww how sweet." Damon said looking right at me.

"Uh we'd better go Matt. We don't want to miss the fireworks." I said turning to Matt and pulling his hand.

"Yeah you're right. It was good meeting you Damon. Later Mr. Salzman." Matt said and led the way back to the crowd as the fireworks started to light the night sky. As we walked away, I could fee Damon's eyes on me and it sent shivers through me.

DEDEDEDE

By the time I got home, it was well past midnight, but Jenna and Alaric were still up and apparently drinking from the sounds coming from the family room. I walked in and immediately noticed that Damon was with them. Great someone had invited the vampire in.

"Hey guys." I said as tentatively entered the family room.

"Elena!" Jenna exclaimed when she noticed me. "Did you have a good rest of the night?"

"Yeah and I see you guys brought the party back here." I said looking at the tequila and vodka bottles on the leather ottoman then looked at Alaric. "And I see Damon was invited…in." Alaric looked at me apologetically and mouthed sorry and I saw Damon roll his eyes.

"Sorry Elena, I know this is your house but I didn't think it would be a big deal if we came back here. You know being responsible adults, no drinking and driving." Jenna said, "Well I guess at least me since I'm already home."

"No it's fine. I think I'm just tired." I said, "You guys have fun I'm just gonna go up to bed.

"Don't you want to have a drink with us first?" Damon asked as I turned to walk away but at his question I turned back around and looked at him without saying anything.

"She's a minor Damon." Alaric warned looking at Damon pointedly.

"True but we are in the privacy of her own home and I doubt any of you would go and tell the sheriff that Miss Gilbert here has been under the influence," Damon said looking at Elena in the challenging her, "Plus she's a teenager, she can't possibly tell me she hasn't had a drink in her life."

"You've got me," I said shrugging and looking right back at him, "I have but like I said I'm tired and drinking right now doesn't sound like something I want to do. Good night guys." I said and turned and left quickly and went to my room and shut the door. Once inside I let out a big sigh before grabbing some pajamas and going to the bathroom to change. When I emerge from the bathroom a few minutes later I nearly screamed out when I see the last person I would ever want laying on my bed.


	2. Sneaking In and Breaking Up

A/N: Here is chapter 2. So I've got to say I was slightly disappointed in the amount of reviews for this story. Honestly, I was so excited to get this story out and see what you guys thought that I pushed it out quickly...and then nothing. There were a few and thank you to those that did. I love reviews, they make me feel like I'm writing for something so if you enjoy this story even in the slightest, then please write a little review and I can promise that if you do I'll try to get the next chapter out to you quickly.

Thanks.

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**Two**

**Sneaking in and Breaking Up**

_By the time I got home, it was well past midnight, but Jenna and Alaric were still up and apparently drinking from the sounds coming from the family room. I walked in and immediately noticed that Damon was with them. Great someone had invited the vampire in._

_"Hey guys." I said as tentatively entered the family room._

_"Elena!" Jenna exclaimed when she noticed me. "Did you have a good rest of the night?"_

_"Yeah and I see you guys brought the party back here." I said looking at the tequila and vodka bottles on the leather ottoman then looked at Alaric. "And I see Damon was invited…in." Alaric looked at me apologetically and mouthed sorry and I saw Damon roll his eyes._

_"Sorry Elena, I know this is your house but I didn't think it would be a big deal if we came back here. You know being responsible adults, no drinking and driving." Jenna said, "Well I guess at least me since I'm already home."_

_"No it's fine. I think I'm just tired." I said, "You guys have fun I'm just gonna go up to bed._

_"Don't you want to have a drink with us first?" Damon asked as I turned to walk away but at his question I turned back around and looked at him without saying anything._

_"She's a minor Damon." Alaric warned looking at Damon pointedly._

_"True but we are in the privacy of her own home and I doubt any of you would go and tell the sheriff that Miss Gilbert here has been under the influence," Damon said looking at Elena in the challenging her, "Plus she's a teenager, she can't possibly tell me she hasn't had a drink in her life."_

_"You've got me," I said shrugging and looking right back at him, "I have but like I said I'm tired and drinking right now doesn't sound like something I want to do. Good night guys." I said and turned and left quickly and went to my room and shut the door. Once inside I let out a big sigh before grabbing some pajamas and going to the bathroom to change. When I emerge from the bathroom a few minutes later I nearly screamed out when I see the last person I would ever want laying on my bed._

"What the hell are you doing in my room?" I ask angrily trying not to show the fear I felt inside. I had never been alone with a vampire before.

"Relax, I'm not here to hurt you." He said nonchalantly.

"Sorry if I don't quite believe you, a vampire who conveniently got himself invited into my home and is now in by bedroom." I hiss.

"Man you really are… feisty aren't you? Yelling at a vampire who can snap your neck in a second, not a very wise move Elena Gilbert," Damon stated before speeding to me and undoing the band that was holding my hair up in a pony tail before I even realized what had happened. "See."

I looked at him, meeting his cold crystal blue eyes, as he stood inches away from me, my heart felt as though it was pounding outside of my chest. Even with everything that I had learned about vampires, nothing could possibly prepare you for when one was actually right in front of you and could move faster than than you could blink.

"So then what are you here for?" I ask slowly, hearing my own voice shake.

He didn't say anything for a moment, just looked at me intensely studying my face, then in another blur of momvent he was on the other side of the room looking at the photos on my drawer. "Despite what ever you may think I'm not here to kill you, suck your blood, etc., etc., etc." he said mockingly, "I just want to make sure that you and I are on the same page."

"Same page?"

"That you won't alert any of your council member buddies that I'm a vampire and if you do that I will promise to be a perfect model citizen. Same page, everyone happy."

"And if I do alert someone on the council to the fact?"

"Then I will be forced to kill whomever you told especially if they go after me," He says standing in front of me again, his blue eyes boring into me, "Don't make me have to do something that neither one of us wants."

"And I'm just supposed to take your word for it that you won't hurt anyone in this town?" I say challenging him.

He looked at me again, seemingly studying me. "You can believe whatever you want about me but just know this, just because I need blood to survive and may or may not have in the past killed some people because of that thirst, I am not a liar. I may be a monster but if there is one thing that I am not, I am not a liar. I will not kill anyone in this town, unless provoked." He says seriously before turning away.

"So I have your word that nothing will happen to anyone while you're here?"

"Without sounding redundant, no nothing will happen to the humans in this town by me." He said smirking.

I was quiet for a moment, thinking about what he was saying, what Alaric had been saying to me. I didn't know why but I believed Damon was telling the truth. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. This is absolutely insane." I say shaking my head.

"Eh what's so insane about it? So you're on the council whose sole mission is to hate on vampires and you're letting a vampire roam around without letting the rest of the gang know. I don't see the big deal."

"Of course you wouldn't, you don't have a conscience." I say running my hands through my hair in frustration, "It wouldn't bother you if innocent people started dying because you went against every instinct in your head and allowed a vampire to run loose through the streets!"

"Like I said no one is going to get hurt so just relax." He said plopping himself down on my bed again crossing his feet and putting his arms under his head.

I glare at him just lying there on my bed and start to get angry, "Look I got your message. Don't tell anyone Damon's a vampire or people will die. Got it loud and clear so you can go now."

"Actually I'm not done just yet." He said sitting up and hugging my teddy bear to his chest. "I wanted to talk to you about your snooping earlier."

I tried to keep the surprise off of my face but I'm sure he caught it cause a satisfied gleam appeared in his eyes, "I…I…"

"No need for excuses, you eavesdropped on my conversation with Alaric. Now I'm not sure how much you heard exactly because shame on me I let my guard down and I didn't stop to think about the teenage girls that might be hiding behind a tree listening to our conversation." He said sarcastically, "So I didn't actually pick up on you being there until your little boyfriend showed up looking for you."

"Aren't you guys supposed to have super vampire abilities to detect humans and the like around you?"

"It's not exactly spidey senses, but yes. However as is the case when I'm talking to Ric I tend to drown out the outside world, but don't think it's going to happen again." He said standing in front of me suddenly again.

"And so now what? Are you going to kill me or compel me to forget?" I ask trying to sound more confident than I felt.

"Compelling you is not a bad idea, but I can smell the vervain in this locket." He said reaching out to examine the locket my dad had given me long ago, "I could rip it off but I can smell the vervain running through your veins so that's obviously not an option." He said his face inches from mine, "So I'll just leave you with a warning."

"A warning…didn't I already get one?"

"Nope the first was more of negotiation, but I doubt this will be a difficult concept for you to understand. Don't listen in on one of my conversations again or I will be forced to…well you know. If you want to know something, then ask me, but don't ever listen in on a conversation that I'm having again."

I didn't say anything for a moment and just thought about what I had heard between Alaric and Damon earlier. In my fear it was hard to remember but I knew there were so many things that were mentioned that I needed to know a bout. "So I can ask you anything and you'll answer me truthfully." I asked looking at him doubtfully.

"Like I said earlier I am nothing if not truthful." He said playing with my pom poms then eyed me suspiciously, "Obviously there is something that you want to know about so I will give you one free question tonight."

"Really?"

"Duh, ask away."

"Ok what happened with Bonnie today, and what did you mean by another Bennett woman? I've known Bonnie my whole life and meeting you sends her into a tailspin."

"Are you done?"

"Yes."

"Well first of all that was more like two questions followed by a statement." He said and I just glared at him, "But I guess I'll let it go since they're all related to eachother."

"Ok so…." I said waiting for him to answer.

He walked up to me slowly with a small smile on his face and leaned in close and whispered in my ear, "I said you could ask a question, but I never said I would answer it."

Then suddenly he was gone. As I looked towards the open window, I saw the curtain flapping in the wind and I couldn't help but wonder what the hell had just happened

**

* * *

**

After a few days I was now certain the Damon Salvatore was a complete and utter jerk. He may not have been feeding on or killing people, but he definitely did not know how to treat people.

I hadn't spoken to him since the incident in my bedroom but he had certainly made his presence in Mystic Falls known. Every day there was a new woman on his arm. I even heard that there was a line to get to him. The women of Mystic Falls were going crazy for the new guy with the dark hair, chiseled face and hypnotizing crystal blue eyes. He was certainly the new hot meat in town and everyone – young, old, single, married, gay, straight, had all taken notice.

The only bright spot was that no one suspected he was a vampire and he hadn't hurt anyone. Well at least that I knew of.

I was at the Mystic Grille on a date with Matt one night and Damon suddenly walked in alone sitting at the bar but soon a group of girls approached him and they were now currently all laughing and vying for Damon's attention.

"Would you stop looking over there?"

"What?" I said looking up distractedly to find Matt glaring at me angrily.

"I said you need to stop looking over there. You have barely said anything or looked at me since Damon Salvatore came in." Matt said continuing glaring at me, "Don't tell me you've got a thing for this guy too. It's bad enough that my mom…"

"No of course not, you know that." I say grabbing his hand, "I just…I'm just trying to figure out what the big deal is about him. I mean he's attractive but he's just a big jerk."

"And you would know because you watch him whenever you see him," he states dropping the slice of pizza in his hand and I lower my eyes at the truth of his words. If only I could tell Matt why I watch Damon like a hawk every time I see him, but I can't.

"Matt no it's not…"

"Maybe he's not the problem but there is something wrong between us. I know things haven't been right with us for awhile now but I always thought that we could get through it but we can't seem to. I feel sometimes like I'm the only one trying." He says playing with the cocktail napkin under his glass.

I knew he was right. We had broken up right before my parents had died in a car accident and I had impulsively gotten back together with Matt soon after their death. Even at the time I knew it was the wrong thing to do. All of the reasons for which I had broken up with him in the first place were still there, but I was in so much pain at the time and I just needed someone to make me feel better, and well Matt was there. I just wanted to feel normal and fast forward to over a year later and I was still with Matt because he was like lying in your bed on a winter morning not wanting to leave because it's so warm and comfortable. I thought I had been doing a good job of pretending to be happy but apparently not good enough.

"Matt I…"

"It's ok Elena. It's partly my fault; I knew it wasn't a good idea after your parents died but I still loved you and I thought that was enough." He said holding my hand, "Look I think I'm gonna go. Do you want me to drop you off at home?"

I shook my head feeling the tears forming in my eyes, "No. I can find someone to take me home." I say, "Matt I'm so sorry. You have always been too good for me. I…I've never deserved your love, but I hope you know that I did love you."

He nodded his head slightly before standing up and leaning over to kiss my forehead. "I loved you too. Bye Elena."

Once he turned to walk away the tears fell. It was the right thing to do. Matt didn't deserve what I had been doing to him; he was such a good guy, but to hurt him like that hurt me too.

As I sat there crying quietly, a napkin suddenly appeared in front of me. I looked up and was surprised to find Damon standing there holding the napkin. He waved it a little and I finally took it. "Thanks." I muttered as I wiped my eyes. He must have taken my taking the napkin as an invitation because he took Matt's seat and folded his hand together and looked at me intently.

"Please tell me he didn't leave you to pay for the check." He said and I just glared at him, "Looks like someone's having a rough night?" he commented.

"What do you care?" I snap. "Look Damon I'm sorry but I just want to be alone right now."

"Alone? I don't know, I really think you should talk to someone about this and since your friends aren't here…" he started to say.

"What you think I'll talk to you about my problems?" I ask flabbergasted. How could he actually think I'd want to talk to him about this?

"Well like I said there's no one else here." He said motioning around before leaning back in his chair. "Plus I did kind of hear the whole thing."

"You were eavesdropping on our conversation!"

"Well it's not like I can help it. Those girls were talking about something completely uninteresting and well with my super hearing, it's kind of like there's this constant static of noise going on and I just have to hone in on something to clearly make it out and I heard my name being mentioned and it just so happened that it was followed by your break-up. Plus it was the most interesting thing going on at the moment."

"This is unbelievable, the other night you practically jump all over me because I eavesdropped on your conversation with Alaric and now here you are admitting to the fact that you were listening in on my very private conversation with Matt," I argue before grabbing my jacket and standing up to leave. "Could you be anymore of a hypocrite."

"Well when you put it that way," he says and I just glare at him then walk towards the exit hoping that he wouldn't follow me but no such luck.

"Leave me alone Damon." I hiss.

"Ok fine I'm was wrong." He said and I looked back at him with my brow raised, "You're only ever going to hear me say this once but you're right it is completely hypocritical of me to listen in on your break up after I got angry with you the other day for the exact same thing." He said continuing to follow me.

"Damon I…."

"Man Elena you work fast." A voice said coming from the parking lot. I looked over and saw that it was Vicky, Matt's sister and her boyfriend Tyler, who also happened to be Matt's best friend. Oh great. "My brother told me the two of you finally broke up. I know you never cared about him but I figured you'd at least pretend to mourn your break up for more than five minutes before moving on."

"Vicky you're wrong, there's nothing going on here. Damon is just…" I said trying to explain.

"I don't want to hear it. Everyone thinks you're so perfect but you're not." Vicky said standing directly in front of me now before shoving me, "You're nothing but a hoe and I'm glad my brother finally got a clue."

"You'd better watch where you put your hands little girls," Damon said menacingly as he suddenly stood between me and Vicky, staring her down. Tyler stepped in, moving a frightened Vicky out of the way so he could stand in front of Damon.

"Why don't you pick up on someone your own size" Tyler suggested

"Damon just leave it, it's fine." I said seeing how tense both men were.

Damon looked at me and I pleaded with my eyes for him to walk away. Damon seemed to understand, "Tell your girlfriend not to bother Elena anymore." He said and turned to walk away but Tyler grabbed his arm. "You'd better let go right now little boy. Trust me you don't want to challenge me." Damon forcefully removed Tyler's hand from his arm and the look on Tyler's face showed his surprise at how strong Damon was. Tyler made a move to hit Damon but Damon caught his fist with one hand. He then shoved Tyler into the wall and Vicky screamed. Damon started walking to wear Tyler was laying on the ground next to the wall, I could see blood coming from Tyler's head.

"Damon stop!" I yelled.

He looked up and turned his face towards me and I was startled to see the change in his face. The veins around his eyes were protruding and his eyes were dark pools of black. It was the most frightening thing I had ever seen. It was soon gone though, as he looked at me his face returned to normal.

I made a move to check on Tyler and he seemed to be ok, but Vicky was hysterical. I knew there was only one way to shut her up without this becoming a big incident.

"You need to compel her to forget what happened here." I said turning to Damon.

"What?" he said surprised. "You want me to compel her. I thought you didn't want me to compel anyone."

"Well you're going to have to compel her before they start wondering what happened tonight and it looks like you're going to have to compel Tyler too because if he tells his father, Mayor Lockwood what happened with you he might get suspicious. If you've forgotten, Mayor Lockwood is on the council and so is the sheriff." I explained, "So as much as I hate it, you're going to have to compel them or we're going to have some serious explaining to do."

He seemed to consider it for a little bit, probably just to annoy me but then he walked over to Vicky who was crying hysterically and made her look at him.

"You will forget that you saw Elena and me this evening. You will remember that you and Tyler came to the Grille and you were fighting about how he never pays attention to you and you got so mad that you hit him and he pushed you away but then you grabbed a rock and hit him in the head and he fell to the ground but he's ok."

Then he turned to Tyler who had been waking up and told him the same thing. He turned to me when he was done and smiled, "Happy."

"Not really but it's better than the alternative."

"It's only better because you didn't want them telling your ex that they had seen you with me."

I shook my head. "You're so annoying Damon." I said walking away but he grabbed my arm to stop me then quickly let go, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine Damon."

"I didn't mean to…he was just…" he stammered.

"I know. I mean I get it. Thank you." I said understanding him.

"Ok." He said nodding his head. "Let me give you a ride home."

"No I'm fine Damon. I can walk home." I say but suddenly Damon is no longer in front of me. I look around but he's nowhere in sight. Stupid vampires and they're disappearing tricks.

I start walking in the direction of my house, but then I hear the roar of an engine from a car in the distance and a second later I see Damon's Camaro coming towards me and it stops when it reaches me. The dark window rolls down and I see Damon's head, "Get in the car Elena I'll give you a ride home."

"No thanks, I'm fine walking." I say stubbornly and start walking again.

"It's not exactly close, come on I'll give you a ride." He says as the car rolls alongside me.

"I'm not getting in a car with you Damon."

"But it's dark and late. You don't know what other dangerous creatures are out there." He says and I just glare at him. "Ok, ok I'm probably the most dangerous thing around, but I promise it's safer for you in this car than out there walking."

When I didn't make a move to get in the car and kept walking he sighed loudly. "Well then I'll just have to keep rolling on beside you until you get home, but if you get in I'll answer that question you asked me other night."

I stopped in my tracks and thought about it. Bonnie. I hadn't seen her in the last few days and I had barely spoken to her on the phone. She always said she was busy and couldn't talk. If Damon knew something about Bonnie then I had to find out what it was.

I sighed and got into the car and even though I didn't look at him I could feel Damon smiling in victory beside me. "Stop being so smug and tell about Bonnie already."

He seemed to be thinking it over and I could feel the irritation rising in me. "Oh come on you promised you would answer my question from the other night. Please don't play the 'you never said when you would tell me' card because if that's the case, then stop the car right now and let me out." I say and I reach to unlock the buckle of my seatbelt but he puts his hand over mine to stop me and in an instant a million volts seem to run up my arm.

"You like to jump to conclusions and just judge don't you?" he accused and I just glared at him in response. "For the record, I was going to tell you but it's a long story and I was just trying to figure out where to start, but since you started forming your own opinions of me, I've now changed my mind."

"Damon would you please be serious and just tell me what's going on with Bonnie." I say irritated.

"Ugh. You really have to loosen up a bit and have some fun. When the last time you smiled." He challenged and I roll my eyes at him, "Geez you're really starting to remind me of Stefan and trust me that's not a compliment."

"Who's Stefan?" I ask confused.

"Huh?"

"You said I reminded you of Stefan. Who is that?"

A look flashed over his face but it was quickly gone. "No one you need to worry about. Now I thought that you wanted to know about your friend. Bonnie was it?"

There was something to whomever Stefan was, but Damon was right I had to know what was going on with Bonnie. "Yeah that's her name. What happened when the two of you shook hands? And you mentioned something about the Bennett women when you were talking to Alaric. He seemed to think you were scared."

"Ok hold on. One question at a time." He said glancing at me. "Fine I'll tell you what I know, but we're here."

I looked out the window and sure enough we were outside of my house. How the hell had we gotten here so fast? "No excuses Damon." I said turning my attention back to him. "You said you would answer my questions if I got in the car and that was your offer, not mine."

"Yes and I'm prepared to honor that, however, this beautiful car is sort of loud and ha garnered the attention of you Aunt Jenna who is currently at the window trying to figure out what you're doing in my car and why you have yet to get out." He states.

I look towards the house and sure enough Jenna is standing there with the curtain pulled back slightly but when she sees me she quickly let's the curtain go and it falls back in place. "Don't worry at this point she's just wondering how you ended up in my car when Matt picked you up."

"Can you read minds?" I ask wondering how he knew that.

"Like that wuss of a vampire from that movie and books…uh no. But I must admit it would an interesting ability to have. No, Jenna was just thinking out loud." He says.

"Crap, I can't stay in here much longer without her getting other ideas, but you promised to tell me and I have to know tonight." I say and then to my own surprise I suggest, "Can you sneak into my room after I go in the house?"

"Why Elena I can't believe it, I know you're on the rebound and everything, but I never expected you to proposition me already." He says smirking.

"Damon." I hiss unamused.

"Ok fine, you're no fun. I can sneak into your room but I won't let you jump me like I know you want." He says and I give him one last glare before getting out of the car.

As I walk up the steps I hear Damon's car roar away and go around the corner. Just great he left. Putting my trust in a vampire, what the hell was I thinking?

When I open the door and step into the hallway I see Jenna is sitting on the couch of the living room with an old book in her hand. "Oh hey you're home." She says nonchalantly trying to keep her eyes on the book.

"You can cut the act Jenna, I saw you standing at the window looking at us." I say smiling as I sit down next to her.

"Ugh you caught me but in my defense, Damon's car is pretty loud and distinctive and when I heard it I thought maybe he and Ric were stopping by unexpectedly and so I looked out the window and I was seriously surprised to find you, in Damon's car. I mean you were parked under a streetlamp so I could see, I really wasn't trying to snoop." She said quickly looking guilty, "But I don't understand you left here with Matt and went home with Damon, what happened?"

I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. "Matt broke up with me tonight. I guess he finally had had enough of my pretending so he ended it."

"Oh Elena."

"No it's my fault. It's weird but I'm actually kind of relieved he ended it. I never should have gotten back together with him in the first place. He was just a safe place for me after mom and dad died and I didn't know how to let go even though I knew I should have. He was right to break up with me." I said, "Matt is such a good guy and he certainly didn't deserve what I did to him which is why I ended up Damon's car. He was at the Grille tonight and offered me a ride home when he saw me walking home.

"Well that was nice of him, but you guys were sitting out in his car for awhile." She said suspiciously.

"We were sitting out there because he was giving me advice about guys." I say lying, "Nothing is going on between us."

"Ok if you say so. But….well I know you just broke up with your boyfriend but Damon Salvatore is…well he's hot Elena. That man is ridiculously hot." She says and I raise by brows at her comment, "Every woman in this town has taken notice even the one's that shouldn't. I would understand if you had a crush on him."

"I do not have a crush on Damon Salvatore Aunt Jenna." I say shaking my head.

"Well you say that now but he's handsome and charming and older. I can definitely see the appeal. Hell I may even have a little crush as well." She says and I laugh, "But, but I love Ric. What I'm trying to say is that its perfectly understandable if you do have a crush on Damon, but I can only be that, a crush. Alaric trusts Damon with his life, but he also says that Damon is a huge player when it comes to women and well you deserve better, plus he's too old for you."

"Jenna seriously I don't have a crush on Damon nor am I interested in him in any way and I agree he is too old for me, much too old." I say, "He just gave me a ride home. Believe me I know exactly what kind of guy Damon Salvatore is. I've seen him in action plenty of time to know that he is not a guy that I would be interested in."

"Ok but…"

"Seriously Jenna can we please end this conversation. I know you love Ric but I think you may be projecting your crush on Damon onto me." I say and she throws a pillow at me and we both laugh. "I just broke up with Matt, I definitely do not want to talk about getting together with another guy right now, especially not Damon Salvatore."

"Ok I'm sorry, you're right." Jenna said, "Do you want me to get the ice cream and junk food out so we properly mourn your breakup?"

"No I'm good. I actually think I'm gonna head up and go to sleep. I'm pretty tired." I say before saying good night to Jenna and heading up to my room. When I get to my bedroom and turn the light on, I nearly scream when I see Damon casually lying in my bed. "You seriously have to stop scaring me like that!" I hiss.

"And you need to not be so surprised to find me here when you were the one that invited me to sneak into your room in the first place." He said smirking.

"I thought you left."

"I moved my car to a less conspicuous place. I think leaving my car in front of your house would defeat the purpose of my sneaking in." he says folding his arms together, "Plus it would prevent Jenna from believing your adamant speech of how you don't have a crush on me if I walked in with you."

I scowl at him in response and he smiles slightly looking at me, "You really have to stop doing that. Your face may get stuck like that."

"You know you're seriously irritating right."

"Yes but at least, according to Jenna I'm also ridiculously hot as well." He says winking and I roll my eyes, "I wonder if Alaric knows? This is good material to bug him about. The fact that his girlfriend thinks I'm ridiculously hot and has a crush on me."

"Ugh talking to you is seriously like talking in circles. It just doesn't go anywhere." I say frustrated and push his feet off my bed before sitting down. "Will you just tell me about Bonnie already."

He sighs and grumbles something under this breath before sitting up, "Fine. Let's see where to start," he says seemingly thinking about it in his head. "Well the fact is your friend Bonnie comes from a long line of powerful witches that I have been sworn to, eh in one way or another protect." He says quickly, "Hey I guess it wasn't as long of a story as I originally thought."

"Wait, you're saying Bonnie's a witch? A witch?" I ask incredulous.

"Well yes but I'm willing to bet that she doesn't know anything about this little piece of family history that she inherited." He said tapping his fingers together.

"What do you mean?"

"When we shook hands she had a vision and I think because she was so surprised she managed to bounce the vision to me and I was able to get a little look and it wasn't pretty."

"What did she see?" I ask impatiently trying to get more information out of Damon.

"Certainly nothing that any human should ever see." He said and I gave him a pointed look. "Fine she saw exactly what I'm capable of doing to mere mortals."

"You mean she saw you kill and feed on people?"

"Precisely, but since she doesn't know anything about the existence of vampires, she probably just thinks I'm sort of sociopathic killer." He said getting up off the bed and walking over to my desk where he picked up a history book and started flipping through. "Seriously this is just all wrong. How can Alaric teach this stuff when it's just a complete load of crap?"

"Poor Bonnie, she must be so confused."

"Yes poor witch, rhymes with…" he started but I stopped him by throwing my flip flop at him which he catches easily and shakes his head at me. "She's probably more confused than anything because I'm sure her emotions are making her powers suddenly appear and she doesn't know how to control them."

I looked over to him and studied him. "How do you know so much about Bonnie and her family?" I ask and he turns to look at me.

"I have a long, long history with the Bennett witches dating back to when I was still human." He explained and I looked at him surprised, "The uh vampire that turned me, had a witch with her, her handmaiden Emily Bennett, Bonnie's ancestor."

"You mentioned earlier that you've been sworn to protect the Bennett's, what does that mean? Does it have to do with why you're able to walk in the sun?" I ask curiously.

"My, my, my you're full of loaded questions tonight." He comments and I roll my eyes. "Ok well actually it does. Emily provided me with this ring after I turned and the vampire that had turned me was gone, but in exchange I had to swear that I would protect her family line."

"So now you have to protect Bonnie?"

"Unfortunately."

"Damon be serious."

"Yes I have to now that I know about her. Generally I like to fain ignorance." Damon said, "I don't need to go looking for each and every one of them just make sure no harm comes to them by other vampires and if they don't want me around then they just have to excuse me and my service is done."

"So why does Alaric think you're scared of Bonnie?" I ask after a moment.

"Uh uh, I'm not scared of anyone." He says pausing seemingly listening to something before looking at me, "Your brother is home, drunk. You should probably go deal with that."

I look towards the bathroom that connects our room and I can hear Jeremy moving around. I turn back to say something to Damon but he's gone. Crap I wasn't done with him just yet. I need to get Damon to tell me more but first thing tomorrow I should check on Bonnie and see how she's doing. The only question is how much of the truth do I tell her?

I hear a small crash come from Jeremy's room and sigh. Just great.

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A/N: I don't want to beg but please, please, please review. Thank you!


	3. A Witch Tale

Sorry I meant to get this out sooner but I've been diagnosed with carpal tunnel and the splint I have to wear plus getting used to the new ergo keyboard has been a challenge to get used to. I'm hoping it will get better and won't limit me too much.

Anyways here's the third chapter. I swear I should be at chapter 10 by now these chapters are so long but this how I like them so I hope you don't mind too much the large gaps in between my posts.

Please please review. They make me happy.

Happy New Year everyone!

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**Three**

**A Witch Tale**

I went to Bonnie's house early the next day. If what Damon had said about Bonnie was true, then Bonnie probably wasn't doing very well right now. I couldn't believe this week, no actually I couldn't believe all that has happened since my parent's died. I found out that vampires actually do exist and they have frequented Mystic Falls, vampires or at least one that I know of, can walk in the sun, and my best friend that I have known my entire life is a witch and comes from a long and powerful line of witches.

No, life wasn't complicated at all.

It was a difficult burden to bear, but now that I knew all of this I knew there was no going back. And as much as I missed my parents, I was glad in a way to have the truth out.

I knocked on the door of the Bennett home but no one answered. The curtains were drawn which was unusual but I knew Bonnie was home because I saw her car in the driveway as I drove in so I knocked again, louder this time, and I noticed movement inside but still no one answered the door.

"Bonnie open up, it's me Elena." I said knocking again, "Come on Bonnie I know you're in there open up."

"Go away Elena." Bonnie yelled. "I…I'm really sick. I don't want you to catch it."

"Bonnie I know you're not sick." I say loudly, "In fact I think I can explain what's happening to you." I said hoping she would believe me. I was met with silence but a minute later the door opened slightly, revealing a visibly pale and scared looking Bonnie. "Oh Bonnie." I reached out to give her a hug but she moved away before I could even touch her.

"No don't, I could hurt you." She says moving back and out of my reach, "I…I….I don't know what's happening to me Elena. I'm so scared."

"I know. Let's just go inside and I'll tell you what I know." I say and she nods her head after a moment and moves aside for me to enter. We got to her room and I immediately notice that there are things missing and broken around her room. "What happened in here Bonnie?"

"I don't know. I keep making things break. I don't understand how it's happening." She says and I can see the wild panic in her eyes. "I would just think it and then…"

I grab her hand and pull her down to sit next to me on her bed, "Bonnie its ok, it's not your fault."

"How can you say that?" she says incredulous, "I'm doing things Elena that I can't explain. How…you said earlier that you can explain what's happening to me."

I nod my head unsure of how to start or how much to even tell her, "Bonnie the reason that you're doing all of this is because you're a witch."

"What? A witch? How is that even possible? No that can't be possible."

"Believe me I couldn't quite believe it either but it's true especially if what you've been telling me has been happening." I explain. "Apparently you come from a long and powerful line of witches."

"I'm a witch." She said quietly seemingly completely dumbfounded by my revelation before raising her hands to inspect them. "Elena how do you even know this? Did you learn this from that Founder's Council?"

"Well um…" I hesitate, not sure of how much I should reveal. According to the council the existence of vampires was not to be revealed to anyone outside of the council and my agreement with Damon was that I would not tell anyone on the council only. I didn't want to lie to Bonnie but how exactly was I suppose to tell her what I knew without revealing the fact that vampires existed and Damon's involvement in her family's history. Plus I'm sure she had questions if she did see something when she touched Damon.

"Elena you can tell me." She said seeing my hesitation. "I won't tell anyone. I mean how am I exactly supposed to tell anyone that I'm a witch? That's a secret I may have to keep to myself."

I looked at her hesitantly but I knew I could trust Bonnie. "Look what I'm going to tell you is absolutely unbelievable, more unbelievable than you being a witch, but I can't tell you if you don't promise me and I mean promise me that you won't tell anyone." I say seriously.

"Yeah ok I swear I won't tell anyone Elena." She says nodding her head. "Just tell me."

"I've learned a lot about this town and its secrets since I joined the council, but I didn't learn that you were a witch from them." I start and she looks at me surprised. "When you…when you met Damon Salvatore and shook his hand you saw you saw something didn't you, something horrible, something Damon did?"

"How…how did you know that?" she asks surprised and I can also see the fear of what she saw in her eyes.

"I know because Damon told me. He's…he's the one that told me about you being a witch."

"Elena you have to stay away from him. He's…what I saw…Elena he's evil." She says shaking.

"I know what you saw was ugly but there's a reason for it." I say before taking a breath. "Bonnie Damon Salvatore is a vampire."

She didn't say anything and I could tell from her initial reaction that she didn't believe me but the look on my face must have told her otherwise and then realization seemed to suddenly hit her. "Elena he's dangerous…what I saw, he...he killed people."

I sighed knowing she was right. "I'm sure he has in the past which is what you saw, but Alaric assures me that Damon doesn't feed on people anymore." I say cringing. The idea of Damon feeding on people sends shivers down my body. "He's a vampire, I know he's dangerous don't get me wrong, but I know he's not going to hurt anyone while he's here."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I don't…I just…"

She seemed to think about it, "That explains the clothes." She says under her breath, "I was so freaked out by what I saw when I touched him but I didn't know how to tell anyone without sounding crazy. How do you explain having a vision? Is this apart of being a witch? Having visions?"

"I honestly don't know. Damon didn't really explain the whole witch thing to me, just that you came from a long line of witches." I explain and then I remember what Damon told me. "Apparently he promised an ancestor of yours that he knew when he turned that he would protect you family line."

"Wait you're telling me that a vampire is sworn to protect me?"

"Apparently so."

Bonnie just looks at me with a look I can't quite make out. "This is insane Elena. I'm a witch, vampires exist and one is sworn to protect me. Next you're going to tell me that fairies and werewolves and Santa Clause really do exist."

"Well you never know." I say jokingly but inside I did wonder what other far out thing really did exist.

**

* * *

**

I ended up spending the rest of the morning with Bonnie and she seemed a bit calmer since finding out she was a witch. It was almost like a peace had fallen over her. I managed to convince her to come to the Grille with me for lunch after I told her about my break up with Matt and sure enough Matt was working. I gave him an awkward wave and he just nodded his head in acknowledgement then turned away to bus another table.

Nope this wasn't going to be awkward at all.

After we placed our order, Damon and Caroline walked in together. She clearly looked ecstatic and Damon on the other hand looked bored. She said something to Damon who glanced in our direction then nodded his head and Caroline practically ran over to us with Damon trailing slowly behind looking right at me with a strange expression on his face.

"Hey guys are you having lunch? Bonnie I haven't seen you in forever." Caroline said talking fast. "We're here for lunch too…me and Damon. I was at the mall and ran into Damon and convinced him to have lunch with me."

"You know Caroline if your friends don't mind, maybe we can just join them for lunch. It will be festive. My treat." He says cheerfully but his eyes never leave my face.

Caroline looked at Bonnie and I, pleading with her eyes. Bonnie looked unsure but nodded her head and I finally relented. "Uh yeah sure…that's uh fine." I say.

Damon pulled out Caroline's chair and she absolutely beamed then proceeded to talk a mile minute about what I'm not sure. I tried to pay attention but it was difficult when I could feel Damon's gaze on me. At some point when Caroline picked up her glass to take a drink, Damon "accidentally" bumped into her and she spilled it all over herself. She screamed out and ran to the bathroom in embarrassment.

"Sit down." Damon said as Bonnie started to get up to help her. She looked at me warily but sat back down.

I glared at him and he glared right back. "Why did you do that to Caroline?"

"Well how else was I supposed to get some alone time with my secret keeper and the witch." He said taking a sip of his scotch and I glance at Bonnie. "I see you told the witch everything including about my vampire status. Didn't we agree that you weren't going to tell anyone or I would start killing the people of this little town?"

"No we agreed that I wouldn't tell anyone on the council and Bonnie isn't on the council." I responded trying to sound confident. "And how exactly was I supposed to tell her that she was a witch without telling her everything?"

"Eh…" he says seemingly thinking over my question then he suddenly leans close to me. "Don't tell anyone else. Too many people know already."

"Fine."

"I need you to tell me what you know about me and my family." Bonnie said suddenly and Damon finally took his eyes off of me and turned his gaze towards Bonnie.

"And why do you think I'd want to help you?"

"You are sworn to protect me right?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I have to be your own personal history book." He said.

"Damon." I warned and he looked at me and shrugged.

"Well it's true. I don't."

Bonnie and I looked at eachother and I just shrugged. I wasn't sure what to do here. "But if you could I would really appreciate it." Bonnie said looking straight at Damon. "You know more about what I can do and what I am more than I do. You're the only one that can help me."

Damon seemed to consider her words for a moment then he glanced at me and I pleaded with him with my eyes. He sighed and leaned forward on the table, "Look you come from a line of witches, can't you talk to your mother or grandmother about this?"

"No my…my mother is…well gone and my grandmother lives in L.A. now." She replied.

"Well that's just great." He muttered and I just gave him another pointed look and he gave a low growl. "Fine come by the boarding house tomorrow and I'll give you history lesson, you two Elena since you seem so curious to know things." He said looking into my eyes, "Now change the subject Barbie is headed back."

I looked up and sure enough a smiling Caroline was headed back towards our table. I looked over at Bonnie and she looked hopeful in a way she hadn't earlier. Our waiter came with our food and I could feel Damon's eyes on me again an I brought my eyes up to meet his and momentarily got lost in the depth of the his crystal blue eyes until the waiter put my food in front of me. I shook my head and reached for the ketchup at the same time Damon did and I felt a small jolt again when our fingers touched. I took my hand away quickly and met his eyes again then looked away quickly but then I was met with Matt's upset glare. He looked at me for another moment then shook his head and turned away.

Ugh just great.

* * *

When I got home later after a long lunch with Bonnie, Caroline and Damon and then from hanging out at Bonnie's house, I found Aunt Jenna and Alaric in the kitchen making dinner. When I came back downstairs a little while later, Alaric mouthed for me to join him in the dining room.

"Hey Elena I just wanted to talk to you about what you may have heard when you overheard Damon and I talking." He said nervously.

I put my hand up to stop him. "Don't worry Ric I won't say anything to Aunt Jenna." I said and sighed, "And for the record I'm glad that you're asking her. The two of you are really good together even though you have horrible taste in friends.

He chuckled lightly, "Speaking of Damon…he called me before I got here and he asked that I bring you and Bonnie to the boarding house tomorrow."

"I don't understand…"

"I'm not sure either. He didn't give me any specifics, just requested that I bring the two of you over because it wouldn't be seemly for two teenage girls to be seen entering the home of two bachelors unchaperoned."

"Wait, is Damon worried about our reputation?" I ask completely flabbergasted.

"Well he does come from the 19th century where men were required to be a gentleman at all times. Hard to believe, I know, especially with his activity with women these days, but it's true." Alaric explained.

"So he's concerned about our reputation but he's fine openly going on a date with Caroline, who is the same age as I am and whose mother also happens to be the sheriff." I comment.

"Hey I never said it was completely logical." Alaric said shrugging.

"So Damon is from the 19th century" I ask curiously.

"Uh yeah. I told you his father was one of the founding members." He said. "Damon was turned in 1864 – Mystic Fall's magic year as we know."

"Wow I can't imagine being alive for that long."

"Yeah neither can I." Alaric says, "So you are you going to tell me why I need to play chaperone for you and Bonnie tomorrow at Damon's?"

"Well Damon has some information on Bonnie's family that he agreed to share." I started to explain then smiled getting an idea in my head, "Ric did you ever consider the fact that you bringing us to Damon's house would look worse than two teenage girls going by themselves opposed to our History teacher bringing us to the home of two single men. I don't know Alaric, you may be dating my aunt but I think the latter is going to seem a lot more suspect to the outside world."

Alaric visibly paled and I left the room smiling.

* * *

The old Salvatore Boarding House was on the edge of the town limits near the woods so I don't know why Damon would be concerned that someone would see us going there. This place was fairly isolated which now that I thought about it could be the reason why Damon had wanted Alaric to come with us – in case he felt the need to kill us. Oh crap what have I done?

"What's wrong?" Bonnie asked looking at me curiously as I pulled into the driveway of the Boarding House.

"Nothing. I just had a thought I'm sure I'm wrong about." I say trying to sound convincing before glancing at Bonnie's apprehensive expression. "Are you nervous? I mean about hearing about your family's history?

"Yeah I am. You know I always thought there was something different about my gram and her sisters but I never could put my finger on it." Bonnie said. "I almost called her last night but how do you just say to someone over the phone that you haven't seen in years that you know about your family's secrets."

"It'll be ok Bonnie." I say putting my hand on top of hers and squeezing it. "Come on we'd better go in."

Before I could even knock on the door Damon opened it. He was wearing his usual black button down and black slacks. "Ladies." He said casually before moving aside, "Please come in and make yourselves comfortable."

As I followed Bonnie in and was about to pass Damon he gently grabbed my arm. I looked up t find him looking at me smirking. "Are you sure it was a good idea to leave the teacher at home. I mean you are still on the edge of town, alone, with a vampire. No one will be able to hear you scream."

I kept his gaze for a moment. I knew what he was doing. "You won't hurt me." I said confidently looking right at him, "or Bonnie."

He released his loose hold on my arm and looked at me surprised, "How can you be so certain?" he asked and I just shrugged and walked towards the den. "It was clever though, threatening Ric with a naughty teacher scandal."

"I was just telling the truth." I said turning back around to face him, "It just takes one person to see him alone with two female students heading towards the edge of town. People's minds go to the dirtiest places."

"Don't I know it." He said and took a few steps towards me. "I said it was clever but lesson #1 of dealing with vampires. Don't ever forget that we can kill you in an instant. Just because I haven't hurt you yet doesn't mean that I still couldn't."

"Maybe but it won't be today." I say confidently before walking into the parlor to find Zach and Bonnie sitting down. "Hi Zach."

"Hello Elena. Can I get you anything?"

"No I'm fine. Thank you." I said sitting next to a nervous looking Bonnie."

"Zach why don't you make yourself scarce while I tell these girls their story." Damon says as he walks into the room.

"I'm not sure that's a good…" Zach started to say but stopped when Damon gave him a pointed look. "Sure Uncle Damon. Let me know if you need anything."

"You didn't have to make him leave." I say watching Zach depart.

"Maybe not but just because he's aware of our family's secret, it doesn't mean he knows the secrets other family's and trust me, if the past is any indicator, this is a secret your family would like to keep hidden." He says pouring himself a glass of Scotch before raising his glass to Bonnie. "Just looking out for your Bennett."

"Thanks, I think." Bonnie says, "So what can you tell me about my family? How exactly am I connected to you?"

He sighed and glanced at me before turning his attention to Bonnie, "While I was human your great, great, great whatever grandmother Emily was the handmaiden for the vampire that turned me. She and Emily were staying with us, I don't remember why because when they first arrived I was off at war, but when I returned they were there. I knew Emily was very important to her mistress but I didn't find out until after I had turned why exactly." He said pausing to take another sip and sitting on one of the club chairs. "When I was in the process of turning and the vampire that had turned me and the one in which Emily worked for had been…killed, she made sure I was safe and she offered me the protection of the Lapiz Lazul ring. I am able to walk in the sun because of a spell that Emily put on this ring. In exchange she asked that I look after her bloodline and make sure that they survive. She told me that she had had enough of working and being used by vampires and wanted to live a quiet life but knew that I would still be here so she wanted me to look out for any future Bennett's especially those with powers. That's it, the end."

"That can't be it!" Bonnie cried out. "There's so much more I need to know. How am I supposed to control it?"

"Look I don't know how your hocus pocus works. I know Emily had this book – the Grimoire that had all kinds of spells and stuff it. I've seen it a few times over the years but I couldn't tell you which one of your witchy relatives has it now."

"So that's it, that's all you've got?" Bonnie said angrily and the lights started flickering. I looked at Bonnie who was now standing and advancing on Damon and I could see the slight worry on his face.

"Look that's all I know. I didn't even know what Emily was until after I turned and the book it's been passed down." He said with his hands up. "You need to get in contact with your relatives. You said you had a grandmother. What's her name, maybe I know her?"

"Sheila." Bonnie said and recognition seemed to wash over Damon's face.

"Sheila. Of course it is. I remember her, met her when she was your age. She helped me with something." He said with a far away look in here eyes. "Told me she didn't need me to protect her after that. Hmmm…but she was pretty powerful but she said she wanted to lead a quiet life, no witchy stuff."

"She did I think. I've been trying to rack my brain and I can't remember anything, but she moved to L.A. a few years ago after my father and her got into a fight after my mom left."

Damon seemed to think about this for awhile then got up and poured himself another glass of Scotch. "Well it looks like it's time for granny to visit Mystic Falls and I'm gonna go get her."


	4. The Other Salvatore

So I really really hate to beg but I didn't get that many responses to the last chapter which made me pretty bummed, I'm really really hoping that there are more for this chapter. I enjoy writing this story and I'm hoping you're all enjoying it as well. I'm starting to get discouraged, I know not very much has happened so far but I have this story mapped out and trust me it's gonna be good. So please please review this story.

Thanks.

* * *

**Four**

**The Other Salvatore**

Damon seemed to disappear for a few days and life seemed to return to normal in Mystic Falls. Before we left his house that day he asked Bonnie for her grandmother's contact information so he could find her. Before we left I stopped at the door and asked him why he was helping her and he looked at me with an unreadable expression and paused. "Simple, self preservation. I've come across a lot of witches in my time and I know not to mess with them and I can see that your friend Bonnie could potentially be dangerous if she doesn't learn how to control her temper." He said. "So do me a favor and watch her while I go get granny."

"You think Bonnie could be dangerous?"

"She has powers that she doesn't know how to use and her emotions are all over the place. Yeah your friend Bonnie is dangerous." he said then looked at me, he blue eyes boring into by brown ones, "so be careful."

I hadn't seen Damon since and I was growing increasingly wary. Bonnie was on the edge because of her new powers although according to her it had subsided a bit, however, when she starts staring out into space and the lights start flickering unexpectedly, it makes you wonder what else could happen because of Bonnie.

I asked Alaric if he had heard from Damon and he told me no and with school out, Bonnie going haywire, Caroline talking non stop chatter about Damon, Jeremy's moodiness, and Matt politely ignoring me, I was going slightly stir crazy.

I found myself one afternoon at the cemetery in front of my parent's headstone. This had become the place I went to when I most needed to feel peace and their advice. How I desperately missed them and how I wished there was someone I could talk to about all that was happening.

I don't know how long I sat there unmoving until I suddenly sensed someone behind me. I hadn't heard anyone but the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. I stood up and turned around quickly and sure enough a few rows of headstones back a young man with light brown hair and a lean muscular build was staring at me intently. From this distance I could tell he was handsome with his strong chiseled jaw and soft eyes, but there was something disconcerting about the way he was standing there staring right at me.

"Can...can I help you?" I asked tentatively aware that I was alone in a large cemetery outside of town with no else nearby and a stranger in front of me.

He didn't say anything just continued to look at me. His gaze made me feel uneasy but at the same time I couldn't help but feel as though there was something familiar about him.

He took a few steps towards me and I instinctively backed up.

"Ka...Katherine?" he stammered.

"What? I'm sorry who?" I said confused.

"Katherine is that you?" he said again.

"Um...no my name isn't Katherine, you must have me confused for someone else sorry." I said feeling uneasy. I started to pick up my diary and bag off the ground and wondered what the best way to get back to my car was to get around him.

"What? But you..." he said then paused for a moment and didn't say anything, "Oh yes of course, I'm sorry. You just...you just look very much like someone I once knew."

"It's uh ok...I um...I guess we all just look like someone else don't we." I said lamely, "Well um I should get going."

"Of course. I'm sorry if I disturbed you. You looked so peaceful." he commented. "I'm sorry that sounded weird, I was just laying some flowers down visiting a relative and I looked over and saw you immersed in your journal and you looked…you looked peaceful."

"Oh uh well I don't know about that, more like trying to find some peace." I said looking down and my parent's headstone. "They always seem to help with that."

"Were you close?" he asked taking a few steps closer to me. "I'm sorry to pry, it's just you had this happy faraway look on your face."

"It's ok." I said, "This is my parents - they died last year in a car accident. I just... I just really miss them."

"I know how that feels. I lost my mother when I was very young, I don't remember her very much, but I still feel that ache from her loss and my father has passed as well." he said and a sad thoughtful look passed over his face. "I'm sorry you said you need to go I'm keeping you."

"Oh uh yeah um well it was nice to meet you. Um I'm Elena." I said introducing myself and extending my hand even though a few minutes ago I was ready to bolt out of here as fast as I could but there was something familiar about him.

"Stefan." he said extending his hand, "It was a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." I said smiling before looking at the twig that broke under my foot as I stepped on it, "Maybe I'll see you around?" I looked up but he was no longer there and I was alone. Where the hell had he gone and why did I feel like I had heard that name before?

* * *

The following night I was waiting at the Grille for dinner with Jeremy but he was either running late or he was standing me up...again. I really hoped it wasn't the latter.

I was absentmindedly drumming my fingers on the side of my glass of soda when a shadow fell over the table from behind me. I turned slightly and looked behind me and was surprised to see Stefan behind me.

"Stefan?"

"Hello again Elena. I was just about to have dinner but then I saw you sitting here alone. Do you mind if I join you or are you waiting for someone?" he asked politely.

"Unfortunately I'm waiting for my brother Jeremy who is late, half an hour late now." I said looking at my watch. "But if you don't mind waiting with me until he gets there."

"Of course." he said before sliding into the empty booth seat. "You must be a good sister."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well you're still here waiting for a brother that you obviously believe isn't going to show up." Stefan said, "You have faith in him."

"I think you give me too much credit. I'm really just hopeful." I said, "He hasn't been the same since our parents died and well we used to have these family dinners at the Grille the first and last Wednesday of the month. I can't even remember why and even though they're gone I just..."

"I get it believe me." He said with his own faraway look in his eyes.

"Do you have siblings?"

"Yes one older brother. We had a falling out and aren't very close anymore."

"That's too bad. I hope Jeremy and I don't get that way but I feel like we might be." I say sighing then my phone buzzes in my pocket, "Excuse me." I say as I check my cell.

_From Jeremy_

_Not gonna make dinner_

Great stood up again.

"Well it looks like I've officially been stood up." I say frowning before looking at Stefan sitting across from me, "Since you're already sitting and you were going to eat anyway, would you like to stay and join me for dinner?"

"I'd love to." he said smiling, "So what's good here?"

We sat there for awhile making small talk and I was surprised to find myself enjoying Stefan's company. He was smart and he appeared to have an old soul feel to him. In a small town where you've known everyone your entire life, it was refreshing to talk to someone who didn't know your entire life story.

"So what are you doing in town Stefan? Mystic Falls isn't exactly a huge tourist hot spot." I say.

"Well actually I was just passing through but who knows I may stay and catch up with the family I have that live here."

"Oh you have family here? What's their name, I probably know them?"

"Um the Salvatores." he says looking at me.

Salvatore. Stefan Salvatore. Of course Damon mentioned him the other night. Does that mean...

My eyes fall to his hand and I spot a similar ring on his hand as the one on Damon's. Oh no. I look up to see Stefan looking at me intently. "Uh Salvatore...well then you must be related to Zach and... and Damon." I added and I nearly miss the flash of surprise that crosses over his face before it quickly disappears.

"Damon's here?" he asks tentatively, watching me closely." I didn't realize he was back."

"Yeah he arrived just a few weeks ago." I said, "You seem surprised?"

"It's just I haven't seen him in a very long time." he said with a far off look in his eyes then he turned to look at me again, "I should get going, there's still some errands I need to run. This should cover dinner." he said putting a few bills down. "It was a pleasure to run into you again Elena."

"Yes thanks for coming to my rescue and having dinner with me." I said plastering a smile on my face.

He smiled and then turned and walked away quickly. Once he was out of sight I breathed a sigh of relief. Stefan Salvatore. I certainly didn't have any proof but I'm pretty damn sure I just encountered another vampire.

* * *

I spent the next day thinking about my encounter with Stefan. Up until the moment he had told me he was Salvatore, I was engaging in some serious flirting and knew I was attracted to him, but with the presence of the ring on his finger, the very same ring that Damon wore that protected him from the sun, I couldn't ignore the fact that he was most likely a vampire. Just like I couldn't ignore the fact that I was attracted to Damon but knew that I would never pursue anything with him because he was dangerous. He fed off of people to survive, had killed people. Those things can't be ignored. Vampires were dangerous.

Sweet the two most attractive guys I've encountered lately were vampires. Just my luck.

I couldn't help but wonder if I was wrong to mention that Damon was in town when he actually wasn't. Although he tried to hide it, I knew he had been extremely surprised when I mentioned Damon was in town. I wonder what the relationship between the two was.

Damon had briefly mentioned a Stefan during one of conversations but immediately changed the subject when I asked him who that was. He didn't say much, but I definitely got the impression that it was someone that had been important to him. Considering Stefan wasn't exactly a popular name, I'm pretty sure the Stefan I met and the Stefan he had been talking about were one in the same.

There were now potentially two vampires in Mystic Falls. What the hell was I supposed to do now?

My cell started ringing and I checked the caller ID and was surprised to see Damon's face and name appearing on the screen.

"I don't recall ever saving your number and taking your photo for my cell." I said answering my phone.

"That's because I did it while you were otherwise pre-occupied. It also gave me the opportunity to obtain your number in the process since I knew you'd never give me your number willingly." he replied and I could here the smile in his voice.

"And yet you're calling me despite the fact that you know I wouldn't want you to." I say getting up off my bed and taking a seat next to the window so I can look out.

"Well how else do you expect me to tell you that I'm back and I come bearing grandmotherly goods?"

"You got Bonnie's grandmother to come back with you?" I ask incredulously.

"Well duh." he replied and I rolled my eyes. "Did you really doubt that I would be able to?"

"No but...Damon you didn't do anything did you?" I ask warily.

"Like what compel her?" he asks, "No. Sheila came all on her own. Don't worry I didn't trick her into anything."

"Good. That's good." I said, "So can I come over now?"

"Anxious to see me are you? Did you miss me?" He says I just imagine the smirk on his face.

"I mean with Bonnie."

"Oh, well that could be fun too."

"Damon be serious. I know Bonnie is anxious to see her grandmother," I said before hesitating, "She's really not doing very good, she hasn't done anything but..."

"I figured as much and so did Sheila which is why she's in the kitchen helping me create a culinary feast so you'd better grab your witchy friend and come over here and eat this food because I'm watching my figure and all these carbs are not good."

"Thank you Damon." I say before quickly hanging up the phone and wondering why I suddenly felt better after talking to Damon.

* * *

An hour later Bonnie and I were standing outside the Salvatore Boarding House. From the moment I showed up at Bonnie's house and told her that Damon had come back with her grandmother I could feel the nervous excitement radiating off of her. I really hoped that Bonnie's grandmother had the answers Bonnie was looking for and could teach her how to use her powers.

A moment after I knocked on the door, Damon opened the door and wordlessly stepped aside as Bonnie went in first and I followed after glancing at Damon who looked right back at me. I couldn't help but take in his appearance, how his dark v-neck t-shirt fit him and dark wash jeans. I heard a gasp from Bonnie and as I turned to look I saw an older woman who resembled Bonnie appear from one of rooms.

"Grams?" Bonnie said unsure.

The woman didn't say anything, I just nodded and opened her arms and Bonnie ran to her grandmother as a sob escaped her mouth and she was enveloped in a tight hug from her grandmother.

"Ah how sweet." Damon said and I just glared at him. "How about we give them some space to talk and catch up. You can help me check on dinner."

I didn't move at first but just stood frozen watching Bonnie and her grandmother. I felt awkward just standing there after a few moments so I followed Damon to where I had seen him disappear to and was surprised to find him in front of the stove in a large spacious kitchen stirring something in a pot.

"Where's Zach?" I ask looking around the kitchen.

"Don't know, hot date maybe...hopefully. He is in desperate need of some action." Damon said smirking looking at me through his lashes.

"I uh...I didn't know you could cook." I say watching him move around the kitchen.

"Well when you've been around for as long as I have, you're bound to pick up a few things."

"You eat food. How...how is that possible? I thought ...well don't you need blood to survive?" I ask feeling stupid.

"I do but as long as I keep a health supply of blood in my system then my body is able to process the food which is a good thing because I have always loved food. The smells the taste...I'm a foodie." he says as he tastes the sauce he has been stirring before smiling and offering me a taste. I was surprised to find that it was actually really good.

Neither of us said anything for awhile while Damon buzzed around the kitchen doing one thing after the other. It was odd but it was like watching a strange and intoxicating dance. I could hear the faintest sound of Bonnie and her grandmother talking in the other room.

"So how did you get Bonnie's grandmother to agree to come?"

"It actually didn't take very much convincing. Sheila was starting to wonder if Bonnie had realized her powers yet and was just planning on a visit but she kept hesitating because of her son. Which is why we came straight here, opposed to Bonnie's house."

"So if you were able to convince her quickly, then what took so long? You've been gone for over a week."

"Well we had to track down the grimoire. That took awhile and when we finally tracked it to Lucy, well let's just say that was slightly complicated as well." he said taking a bag of blood out of the fridge and pouring it into a cup.

"What do you mean?"

He hesitated and took a sip of his blood and I cringed a bit watching him, "Lucy and I have a bit of history. About ten years ago when was new to the witch world, she rebelled a bit and got involved with a crowd that included some bad vamps. I happened to come across her the same day that they had decided she wasn't powerful enough for them." he explained. "I saved her, although I didn't realize she was a Bennett, just luck and we uh...we were involved for a bit after and then one day I decided I was bored and just left. Needless to say when she saw me again, she wasn't too thrilled and didn't want to give up the Grimoire to me."

I shook my head not entirely surprised. "So how did you finally convince her to give it to you?"

"I didn't. I disappeared and let Sheila do all the talking." he said putting a plate of food in front of me and I looked down at it and it looked really good.

"Shouldn't we call Bonnie and her grandmother?"

"Eh they're pretty deep into their reunion. They'll come in when they're ready." he said, "Now eat."

I took a bite and reveled in how good it was. I looked at Damon and couldn't figure him out. One minute he was this vampire who didn't seem to care about people at all, treating them like they were some kind of nuisance but then he had helped Bonnie, even went so far as to get the Grimoire from a spurned ex-lover, he was here making sure I ate, he was Alaric's best friend, he apparently didn't feed and kill people anymore. Who the hell was Damon Salvatore?

"So how is it?" he asked making a plate for himself as well.

"Really good." I said and I saw the triumphant look on his face. "But don't go getting a big head or anything, any cooking compared to Aunt Jenna's is a culinary masterpiece. She's not exactly known for her abilities in the kitchen."

"And yet Alaric still wants to marry her." Damon said and I just nodded my head and took another bite. He didn't say anything for a moment and I looked up and found him looking at me.

"What?" I asked grabbing my napkin and wiping my face. "Do I have sauce all over my face?"

"No." He said putting his plate down next to me then quickly came around to sit next to me. "You heard me talking about you the other night didn't you?"

"You mean the ice queen comment? Yeah, I heard that." I said remembering that night but I also remembered he had said something else...something else what was it?

"If I were human, I would apologize, but I'm not." he said, "But I would like to explain if I could. When I met you, I could feel the judgment coming off of you and I was very sure that no matter what I said or did you would never give me a chance."

"If you're trying to tell me that you were wrong, you' don't have to." I said, "It's not like I can figure you out either."

"What's there to figure out? I'm a hot sexy vampire not much more to know there." he said smirking, "But you're not entirely the ice queen that I originally thought you were. I think your resemblance to someone threw me and well she was definitely an ice queen."

That's what I've been forgetting, Damon said I looked just someone and Stefan had called me Katherine in the cemetery. Were they talking about the same person?

"Are you talking about Katherine?"

His face suddenly went stone cold, "How... how do you know about Katherine?" He asked angrily, "Did Alaric say something to you? I'll kill him."

"No Alaric didn't say anything to me about Katherine." I say furrowing my brow confused as to why he was suddenly so angry.

"Then how do you know about her? Have you been snooping around my things while I've been gone?" he said standing up, towering over me.

"No of course not." I say alarmed at how angry he was.

"Then tell me how?" he snarled, his face just inches from mine.

"St...Stef...Stefan mentioned her." I say tensely and he suddenly stepped back and I couldn't make out the expression on his face.

"Stefan. You...you saw Stefan?" he asked evenly through clenched teeth.

"Yes I ran into him in the cemetery the other day and I saw him again yesterday at the Grille. When I saw him the first time, he called me Katherine." I explained but Damon was looking everywhere but at me. Damon what's going on? Who's Stefan?"

He looked up at me then and a sort of pained expression appeared on his face, "Stefan is my little brother."

Oh well that explains a lot which also means that my assessment was right. "So I was right he is a vampire." I say and he looks at me questioningly, "I noticed the ring and he couldn't be your brother if he wasn't a vampire."

"Yes." he said then grabbed my arm and started inspecting me with his eyes, "He didn't hurt you did he?"

"No." I said shaking my head, "In fact he was perfectly polite."

He let go of my arm and he seemed to think about what I had said then mumbled, "He must have changed his diet again."

"Damon." I said quietly when he didn't say anything after a moment. He looked at me then and there was something in his eyes that I couldn't quite place but then it was suddenly gone.

"You said you saw him at the cemetery the first time?"

"Yes, that's where I saw him." I said trying to figure out what was going on. "He said he was visiting relatives."

"You should uh finish you dinner." He said and I looked at my plate of half eaten delicious food. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go." he said then I felt a rush of wind and when I looked around the kitchen Damon was nowhere in sight.

* * *

_A/N: Please, please, please review_


	5. In My Dreams

**Five**

**In My Dreams**

Bonnie and Sheila entered the kitchen a moment later looking confused, "Elena what happened? We heard Damon leave? Are you ok?" Bonnie asked quickly looking at me concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine." I said, "I don't know what happened, but I think something may be wrong. I told Damon that I saw his brother and he got all quiet then left."

"His brother…you mean Stefan." Sheila said looking at me with alarm on her face and I nodded my head. "Stefan is here in Mystic Falls, but Damon said…oh I knew this would happen."

"Wait Grams, what are you talking about?" Bonnie asked curiously, "And who is Stefan?"

I wondered as well. Sheila seemed to know something and the look on her face told me that her mind was on overdrive because of the information I had just given her.

"Gram."

"Stefan Salvatore is Damon's younger brother – also a vampire and he's…he's dangerous." She said after a moment."

"What? I don't know about that. I've been alone with him, twice, once in a cemetery with no one else around and he didn't make one move to hurt me." I said, "He seemed…"

"First thing to remember about vampires Elena is that they are not to be trusted." Sheila warned cutting me off. "There are very few exceptions. They're beautiful and alluring, everything about them will draw you in and give you a false sense of security, but don't ever forget that they can kill you in less than a second."

"Is Damon one of the few exceptions?" I ask staring at her. "I'm guessing you trust him, you came here with him, what's so different about his brother?"

She sighed and I could see the hesitation in her face, "It's true I do trust Damon. There was a time when I had trusted Stefan as well, maybe even more so than Damon. Between the two he appeared like the kinder gentler and more humane brother, but I learned my lesson the hard way." She said sadly.

"What do you mean?"

She didn't say anything, a far off look appeared on her face and it seemed as though it wasn't a pleasant memory.

"Gram's what happened?" Bonnie asked and her grandmother looked at her thoughtfully.

"It doesn't matter; it was a long time ago. You just have to know to be careful with vampires, both of you." She said looking at us both. "This means Bonnie you need to know how to use your powers properly and Elena you must be sure you always have vervain on you."

"I do." I said touching my locket that my father had given me for my 13th birthday.

Bonnie's grandmother seemed to know quite a bit about the Salvatore brothers. If only I could get her to tell me more. I wonder…

"Mrs. Bennett do you know who Katherine is?"

"Katherine?" she said looking at me curiously. "Do you mean the vampire that turned Damon and Stefan and who Emily worked for?"

"Katherine is the vampire that turned the Salvatores!" I said and it suddenly all made perfect sense now. "Do you know…do I look like her?"

She looked at me closely and from the expression on her face I could tell that I did. "I never met her, she died before I was born, long before from what I understand, but I've seen a photo a long time ago, but yes I believe you look very much like her. You could be her twin in fact."

"What…what happened to her?"

"From what I can make from Emily's journals, she was captured then killed after Damon and Stefan's father Giuesseupe discovered what she was. apparently she burned in the church with all of the other vampires. I don't know anything else."

Bonnie said something to her grandmother but I was longer paying attention. Damon and Stefan were brothers, both vampires, they were both turned by Katherine who looked just like me, Damon seemed to be concerned that Stefan was in Mystic Falls. I didn't know why but for some reason I felt like I was more than a simple bystander in all of this, I felt like I was apart of it all, but the only question was how?

* * *

For the next few days Damon was MIA and Alaric and Zach were barely around for that matter either. I knew Damon was around because there had been spotting of him all around town, but never for too long. They were up to something and I was pretty sure that it involved Stefan somehow.

Even though I hadn't physically laid eyes on Damon, I saw him every night in my dreams. Every night it was the same thing, Damon would come quietly into my room through the window and just stand there looking at me. After awhile, he would come closer and bend and move a few stray hair's out of my face. His finger would trace my jaw and he would look me so tenderly. Then he would sit on the window seat of my room doing nothing until dawn.

Every morning when I awoke I would look towards the window hoping to catch Damon, but he was never there. I didn't know if was just a dream or if it was real. I knew I should feel upset about the thought of Damon coming into my room, but for some unknown reason I always felt the exact opposite. It was odd but somehow I always woke up feeling safe.

Was it possible that Damon had been in my room during the night? Who was I kidding; I knew it was more than possible. He had been invited into my house, snuck into by bedroom on more than one occasion. Definitely more than possible. The only question was why?

It seemed that when it came to Damon all I had were unanswered questions.

I started to get out of bed when I noticed something at the foot of the bed – a cell phone. The same one that… I quickly got dressed and ran out of the house before Jenna could ask me where I was going so early in the morning. I made my way to the Salvatore Boarding House and before I could even knock or the pull the bell, as per usual, Damon opened the door.

"Why hello Elena." He said before moving aside for me to enter. "So what do I owe the pleasure of your company this early in the morning?"

"You actually." I said pointedly and he raised his brown in return. "You've been coming to my room every night haven't you?"

He opened his mouth to say something but shut it again and tilted his head to the side and wordlessly walked to one of the rooms. I followed him and as I was walking into the parlor he picked up a mug from the side table and drank the contents in one gulp. "And what prey tell makes you think that I've been in your room?"

"I've been seeing you in my dreams, nothing dirty so you can hold your tongue." I said and he smirked, "I haven't seen you with my own eyes, when I wake up you're not there but every night in my dreams you would come and just, I don't know watch over me and then leave before I woke up." I said taking a step into the room. "At first I thought it was the same dream over and over again, but then last night you wore something different. Usually it's hard to tell because you generally wear black, but last night you wore a great shirt, the same one that you're wearing right now."

He looked down at his shirt and seemed to be thinking of an excuse but then I lifted up his phone and waved it in front of him, "Plus you forgot this. It was on the floor next to my bed. The last time that I knew you to be in my room was before you left to find Sheila and you called me with this phone when you got back so it couldn't have been in my room the entire time – if that was the excuse you were going to give me."

He looked at me and with the expression on his face it almost looked like he was proud of me, "I should probably be more careful next time." He said, "That was very Scooby Doo of you Elena. Should we color your hair and change your name to Daphne. I always did have a thing for red heads."

"Damon."

"Relax, I like brunettes too." He said winking and I just glare at him. "Fine I suppose you're going to yell at me now. Please go right on ahead."

"Actually no I'm not going to yell at you. I mean I'm furious that you've been coming into my room without my knowledge, but…" I started and he eyed me looking surprised, "but never once did I feel like you were there to hurt me. In fact I felt very much like you were trying to protect me."

There was a distinct look of surprise and curiosity that appeared on Damon's face. "Protect you? Well that's different."

"Yes protect me. The only question I have is why or rather from whom?" I asked but he didn't say anything so I continued on. "Is it from Stefan?"

"Stefan?"

"Since I told you that I saw him, you and Ric have been looking for him haven't you?" I asked but he still didn't ay anything. "I haven't seen you at all this week. Usually you have yourself wrapped around some girl. The girls in town are not happy." I said and he laughed.

"The women in this town really are craving male attention aren't they? Do you need some attention Elena?"

"I've only seen you in what I thought were my dreams." I continued ignoring his comment. "You were worried when I told you that I saw him and after asking if he had hurt me you rushed out of here so fast. Why?"

I looked at him but his expression remained unchanged, unmoved. There was one thing left that I could try though.

"If you won't tell me about Stefan, then tell me about Katherine." I said and he looked at me suddenly, his jaw clenched tightly. "I know I look like her. Sheila told me."

"Sheila talks too much and she doesn't know anything."

"She just confirmed what I was already thinking." I said and he looked at me curiously. "When we met, you started to call me Katherine, but stopped and when I met Stefan at the cemetery, he called me Katherine at first."

"Well you may look like her, but you're definitely nothing like her." He said walking over to the bar and he poured himself a drink before bringing it up to his lips and downing in one long gulp.

"I can't tell if that's a good or bad thing with you." I say but he doesn't say anything in return. "So are you going to tell me about her? She is the vampire that changed you and Stefan isn't she?"

"Weren't we at a one question a day rule limit? I think I've already answered your question for the day."

"Maybe but you were away for a week and then you've been MIA for the last few days so the way I see it, I'm entitled to a few days worth of questions."

"You're not entitled to anything." He growls but I ignore him and I take a few steps until I'm standing in front of him.

"The hell I'm not. I'm keeping your secret and now your brother, another vampire is possibly roaming around town, and I apparently look exactly like the vampire that changed you." I say and he looks at me for a moment and turns to look out the window but I can still see his reflection in the glass, "Why won't you tell me if I'm right about Katherine or about Stefan or even why you've been in my room every night?" I yell. "I am more than entitled to know what is going on!"

Suddenly my back is against the wall on the other side of the room and Damon is standing in front of me, his body pressed against mine, his faces inches from mine. The look on his face was full of rage. "I don't care if you're keeping my secret. It does not entitle you to know everything about me and that bitch Katherine you want to know about is dead. She was a self centered bitch that played and used every single thing/person she came across and she's dead. That's all you need to know." He said venomously, "Stefan is…I was in your room because you were the last one to see Stefan so I thought maybe he would come to you especially since you look like Katherine."

"Why would that matter?" I asked confused about Katherine and his reaction to her.

"It…it doesn't matter." He said backing away from me a bit, putting a little more space between us. "You shouldn't concern yourself with all of this."

"Yes it does. I can feel it. I'm apart of this whether you like it or not Damon. I feel like you're trying to protect me, but I don't understand why and from what. Is it from Stefan?" I said trying desperately to understand everything.

He looked at me then he was suddenly across the room again looking out the window, "We're vampires Elena, killers, no other reason matters other than that."

"But you're not trying to protect me from you. It's something else." I say walking slowly until I'm behind him again. "It's because of Stefan I can feel it and I think it has something to do with the fact that I look like Katherine."

"You need to let this go Elena." He growled keeping his back to me but I could see the pained look on his face through the reflection in the window.

"No" I said stubbornly. I knew I was walking a fine line here, but I knew I was right. I could feel it. "I'm apart of this. You made sure of that when you came back to Mystic Falls but I feel like I have another connection to all of this. All of this Damon, whatever is going on, whatever you're trying to protect me from, it all concerns me and I won't let it drop."

He growled louder in frustration before turning around fully and quickly grabbing my arms tightly and pulling me close to him. "Why the hell are you being so stubborn? Why can't you just let this drop? You're so damn infuriating."

"I just want to the truth."

"The truth." He spat out. "Not to sound all Jack Nicholson here but you can't handle my truth. The things I've seen, done, what I'm capable of, trust me you can't handle any of it. I'm telling you to drop it Elena. Why can't you understand that it's for your own good? Stop being so reckless, don't go looking for Stefan or for me for that matter. We're vampires, monsters. That's the only truth you need to know."

"You won't hurt me." I said softly and suddenly his face changed. His eyes were dark, veins protruded out all around his eyes and fangs we elongated. He looked menacing, dangerous but I knew he wasn't, not for me. "Damon you won't hurt me." I whispered softly, knowing he could hear me.

He just growled in frustration and we looked at eachother and I found myself staring into his crystal blue eyes again. "You're infuriating." He said and I could feel the breath from his words on my face.

"So are you." I whisper. I feel the hold he has on my arms loosen until they fall and one of his hands lands lightly on my hip. Suddenly I'm acutely aware of just how close we are. I was mesmerized by him. His clear blue eyes bore into mine. His fragrance overloaded my senses; he smelled musky and sweet all at the same time. I knew he wasn't compelling me but I couldn't move; I couldn't think clearly. His eyes traveled down my face and when he looked at my mouth he tongue darted out and licked his lips.

He looked into my eyes for permission, I don't know what my eyes were saying but if the way my body was reacting was any indication then I clearly gave him permission. He leaned down slightly, his fingers gripped my hip and I felt myself moving closer to him until I was pressed against him. My eyes suddenly fell shut and I waited with baited breath for what I knew was coming.

* * *

_A/N: Please review_


	6. Keep Your Friends Close & Your Enemies C

I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter and thank you to those that have been reviewing to this story faithfully. I don't want to be a pain and keep begging but the reviews are the only way if I know that you guys like the story or not and if I don't get any reviews at all or so few then it's pretty much telling me this story sucks. I have more chapters ready to be typed up but I may not continue with this story if I don't hear from more people after those are all done.

I have a continuation to my Gilmore Girls Facebook Friends story that I need to start writing on so I may just stop this one and get going on that one. So...if you like this story even in the slightest bit then please just write a quick line telling me you like it and I'll keep going. Sorry to be so dramatic but truly your reviews make me happy.

Thanks.

O

* * *

**Six**

**Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer**

_He just growled in frustration and we looked at eachother and I found myself staring into his crystal blue eyes again. "You're infuriating." He said and I could feel the breath from his words on my face._

"_So are you." I whisper. I feel the hold he has on my arms loosen until they fall and one of his hands lands lightly on my hip. Suddenly I'm acutely aware of just how close we are. I was mesmerized by him. His clear blue eyes bore into mine. His fragrance overloaded my senses; he smelled musky and sweet all at the same time. I knew he wasn't compelling me but I couldn't move; I couldn't think clearly. His eyes traveled down my face and when he looked at my mouth he tongue darted out and licked his lips._

_He looked into my eyes for permission, I don't know what my eyes were saying but if the way my body was reacting was any indication then I clearly gave him permission. He leaned down slightly, his fingers gripped my hip and I felt myself moving closer to him until I was pressed against him. My eyes suddenly fell shut and I waited with baited breath for what I knew was coming. _

After a few moments of anticipation but nothing, I opened my eyes to find Damon standing up straight and he appeared to be listening for something. "Damon…"I started to say but he released my arms and put his finger up to silence me as his eyes darted around.

A few seconds passed and then he brought his gaze back to me looking serious. "Elena I need to you stay right here." He said and I automatically nodded my head in agreement. "Stay here." He instructed again before silently moving into the hallway.

A few minutes passed and I didn't hear anything so I crept into the hallway after Damon and I found him just standing there silently in front of the door. A moment later the doorbell rang and from where I stood I could see Damon's shoulders and back tense up. He sighed before reaching for the door handle and as he opened the door it seemed as though he deliberately changed his stance from tense and rigid to comfortable and relaxed. At first I couldn't see who was at the door but I stepped closer, I saw that it was Stefan.

Neither brother said anything, they just stared at eachother, unblinking and unmoving, until Damon without taking is eyes off of Stefan yelled out. "Zach would you please come down here."

"What is it Uncle Damon." Zach asked as he came down the stairs a moment later and glanced back at me curiously.

Damon motioned for Zach to come to the door and he did. "Zach this is my brother Stefan, the one I've been telling you about." Damon said, "I'd like you to invite him in."

"Invite him in? But Uncle Damon you said…"

"What I said before doesn't matter. Right now I'd like you to invite Stefan in." Damon said never taking his eyes off of Stefan who had yet to say anything.

Zach didn't say anything right away; he looked between the two brothers several times before Damon finally took his eyes off of his brother and turned to Zach nodding his head. "Uncle Stefan, won't you please come in?" Zach said so quietly his voice shaking that I almost missed what he had said.

Damon moved aside and turned towards me and glared as if to say 'I told you stay put'. He stood in front of Zach and after a moment Stefan took a tentative step inside, Damon watching his every move.

"Hello brother." Damon said.

"Damon." Stefan simply said and put his hand out for this brother to shake. Damon looked at it but after a moment took it. "It's been a long time."

"Eh if you consider 40 years to be a long time. Really how long is that when you have all of eternity to look forward to?" Damon said nonchalantly.

"40 years – I swear it's been less that that. I feel like I've seen you popping up everywhere I go." Stefan said smirking.

"Well it is my job as the older brother to clean up your messes." Damon said cryptically.

"I suppose." He said before turning to Zach. "Thank you for inviting me into your home. I haven't been here in years."

"Yes uh it is the Salvatore home, so it's your home too." Zach said quickly.

"I suppose you're right." Stefan said looking around before his eyes landed on me standing there awkwardly. "Elena, this is a pleasant surprise."

"How long do your plan on being in Mystic Falls brother?" Damon asked before I could say anything, getting his brother's attention off of me.

"I hadn't decided yet. I had only originally planned on staying for a short stay, however, after Elena informed me that you were in town, well I thought it might be time for us to catch up after all of these years." Stefan said glancing at me again.

"It sounds like an excellent idea." Damon said with a false cheerfulness in his voice. "Where have you been staying while you've been in town? I haven't been able to find you."

"The Flowers Bed and Breakfast, but I'm growing weary of it. They take the name Flowers quite seriously I'm afraid."

"Well you should stay here; it is after all your home as well." Damon said and I saw Zach visibly tense up, "However, I hope you don't mind that it will just be the two of us. Zach was just getting ready to leave for a trip."

Zach looked at Damon in surprise before nodding his head in agreement. There was no way that that was true until just a moment ago.

"Not a problem, it's always good to spend time alone with you brother." Stefan said and by the look on his face I could tell he was not fooled. The brothers just stood there staring at eachother and you cut the tension with a knife. I felt more uncomfortable now than I did that first night that Damon had come into my room unexpectedly and by the look on Zach's face I wasn't the only one.

Just then the doorbell ran and I jumped a little having been paying attention to the staring content that had been going on between the Salvatore brothers. Damon, however, didn't seem surprised at all and opened the door to reveal Alaric.

"I uh came by to pick up Elena." he said looking around at all of the parties standing in the hallway before landing his eyes on me. "Your aunt is waiting for us…for breakfast."

I looked from Alaric to Damon and I understood immediately that Damon had somehow let Alaric know that Stefan had made an appearance and to get me out of here.

"Um yeah ok I just need to get my purse in the other room, uh Damon can you help me look for it." I said and I saw the look of surprise that passed over Stefan's face before he looked between Damon and me.

Damon wordlessly walked past everyone before putting his hand on the small of my back, leading into the parlor. "Just go home with Alaric right now Elena." he whispered looking at me intently, "I'll come by and talk to you later."

"Ok but what about my car."

"I'll drop it off later." he said and I just nodded my head. I looked at him for a moment wanting to say something but not sure what. I finally turned way and started to walk away but I felt his hand go around my arm lightly and I spun back around to face him. He looked at me for a moment with a look I couldn't read then he leaned in close and whispered in my ear. "Whatever you do Elena, just please don't let Stefan in."

He pulled away and I looked into his eyes and nodded my head. I didn't know what the story was with Stefan but I knew Damon didn't want me to be hurt and he was trying to protect me so I put my stubbornness aside for once and simply nodded my head.

When we returned to the hallways the scene was definitely tense. Alaric was explaining that he and Damon had been friends for a few years and that they had met because Alaric is a vampire hunter. Not exactly your average run of the mill conversation.

"Um Alaric, I'm ready to go." I said and he nodded.

As I walked by Stefan he reached out and touched my arm and I instinctively pulled my arm away and Damon was suddenly standing in between us. I looked at Stefan and a hurt expression appeared on his face.

"I only wanted to say good-bye to Elean." he said and after a moment Damon stepped aside but stayed close. Stefan looked at me and smiled. "It was a pleasant surprise to see you again Elena. I hope to see you again soon while I'm here but…." he paused and glanced at his brother, "I see my brother has made himself your protector so that may be impossible."

"I'm sure we'll see eachother again." I said, "If you'll excuse me, my aunt is waiting for me."

After the door shut behind me I let out a breath I hadn't even know I had been holding before getting into Alaric's SUV. Once we were a fair enough distance from the Salvatore Boarding House, I turned to Alaric seriously, "Ok you need to tell me what you know about Stefan and why Damon feels the need to send Zach away on some bogus vacation and why he's been sneaking into my room every night in order to protect me." I ramble.

"He's been sneaking into your room every night, he never told me that." Alaric said his brows furrowed.

"It doesn't matter, what matters is why Damon is so afraid of Stefan?" I asked but Alaric said nothing. "Alaric there is now another vampire in Mystic Falls. I allowed one in because you told me he was safe and that I could trust him not to hurt anyone, but now there is another vampire, one that our resident 'friendly' vampire appears to be concerned about. Now I know you know something so you need to tell me what that something is."

He still didn't say anything but I could tell by the expression on his face he was thinking about what I had said. "Alaric." I warned.

He sighed and gave me a sideways glance. "Look I don't know the entire story on Stefan, but from what Damon has told me, Stefan has a problem with a human blood diet. His moods are of the bipolar variety and the blood lust becomes too strong for him. He's basically a ticking time bomb when he's human blood."

"So you're saying Stefan is dangerous?" I ask starting to understand why Damon has been so concerned and also getting worried myself.

"Only when he's drinking human blood."

"What that doesn't make sense, what else would he drink?" I asked confused

"Believe it or not, animal blood." he said and I looked at him skeptically, "It's true. Vampires can live off the stuff, but there are some cons. You're not as strong, your senses are not sharp, you don't heal as fast which is why most don't drink it but for Stefan it works as a great antidepressant…if he stays on it."

"I'm guessing he's fallen off the wagon a few times."

"So to speak and every time is pretty bad and Damon usually has to clean up the mess."

I didn't say anything for a moment trying to take it all in. "So do we know what Stefan is drinking these days?"

"No but there haven't been any reports of animal attacks or anyone missing and according to when you first saw Stefan he's been here for awhile so I think or rather hope that he's back on the animal diet, but he could also drinking from blood bags." Alaric said.

I didn't respond trying to figure this all out. Suddenly this all just got 50 times worse. Alaric glanced at me and sighed. "I'm sorry Elena I know this isn't what you signed up for when you agreed to allow Damon in town."

"You think?" I say sarcastically, "Suddenly I'm dealing with the fact that Damon has a vampire brother that may or may not be on a dangerous blood diet and the fact that Bonnie is a witch. In a matter of weeks, everything has been completely turned upside down."

"Bonnie's a witch?" he asked and I looked at him nodding, "That explains a lot. Don't worry I won't say anything." When I don't say anything he glances at me again. "Don't worry about Stefan. Damon will handle him. In the meantime just don't let him in."

"That may be easier said that done. I never had any intention of letting Damon in, but he still managed an invite. I can give Jenna and Jeremy vervain so they won't be compelled but I can't stop them from inviting your best friend Damon's brother in."

Alaric didn't say anything but his silence spoke volumes. Now what?

* * *

When I returned from breakfast at the Grille will Jenna and Alaric my car was in the driveway. We had explained to Jenna that Alaric had seen me jogging and had come up with the idea for us to all have breakfast together.

I waited the rest of the day for Damon to come like he had promised, but I knew he wouldn't come until the middle of night as he always did. I knew it probably wasn't smart but before I went to bed that night, I left my bedroom window open.

It was good that Damon didn't come right away, it gave me a lot of time to think about the situation with the Salvatore's and it allowed me to come to a few conclusions on my own. I knew Damon was definitely concerned about what his brother was capable of doing, despite asking Zach to invite Stefan in he was still concerned enough to send Zach away, and he was concerned enough to have Alaric come and get me and to ask me not to let Stefan in. Damon clearly wanted to keep an eye on his little brother.

_Keep your friends close and your enemies closer_.

Was Stefan really the enemy though?

It was hard for me to separate the Stefan I had first met and had even flirted with, with the Stefan that Alaric had described. It felt like they were two separate people and if Alaric was right then maybe they just were.

I couldn't really understand it though. Damon drank human blood and even though I had my reservations in the beginning I knew he wasn't a real danger. He was able to walk around amongst humans without feeling the need to make each and every single one his next meal. What made the blood lust so much different for Stefan? I also had to think about what I've learned from the council and what everyone else including Damon has taught me, vampires are dangerous, they can kill you in an instant.

I couldn't think of either Salvatore brother as really being dangerous though. I mean sure Damon was a jerk most of the time but I've never really felt like I was in danger with him and Stefan well he so charming and kind when we spoke that I never felt like I was in any kind of danger from him. Sure he frightened me at first at the cemetery and I pulled away when he touched my arm at the boarding house but did I really feel like he was dangerous? I almost wished Damon was wrong about Stefan, but his concern in regards to his brother seemed genuine. Was he afraid that Stefan would go on some kind of killing spree or did his concerns involve me? My head told me it was the former but in heart I knew it had more to do with me than anything else.

My curtains suddenly started moving in the breezeless night and I felt a quick gush of cool air touch my skin. I looked towards the window but saw nothing there.

"You're still awake."

My eyes traveled to where the voice came from at the foot of my bed and even in the darkness of the night, I could make out Damon's familiar form.

"I wanted to catch you to prove I wasn't crazy." I say smiling before sitting up and turning the lamp beside my bed on. "Plus you promised that you would come."

"You left your window open. Don't you know that that's dangerous? Someone could sneak into your room." he said.

"Someone more dangerous than you?" I countered and a small smile played on his lips. "Where's Stefan?"

"Out hunting bunnies."

"So he is on an animal diet again."

"I see Ric has filled you in on a few things." he says before casually sitting on the foot of my bed facing me.

"Well you'd be happy. He didn't tell me much; just that Stefan isn't very good on human blood." I reply, "But that's not the only reason why you're worried are you?"

Damon didn't say anything nor did his expression change so I continued. "You knew Stefan would be coming back here. It's why you sent Alaric here. You knew the council might be a problem so you sent him as a type of inside man. You were worried that Stefan would show up here before you were ready for him."

I tried to read his face with each word I spoke but it remained impassive. "But what you weren't counting was me, Katherine's doppelganger." I said and his brow furrowed slightly and he looked at me curiously. "I think both of you were involved with her, she played both of you, turned you against eachother but she's gone now and the two of you are still at odds."

I scooted a little closer to Damon, for some reason feeling the need to touch him but I held back. "And you've been coming in here every night because I look like her and you're worried about what Stefan might do to have even just a little piece of her back by way of me."

"Are you done?" he asks after a moment and I nod my head. "That was all very intuitive of you, but really what happened to our one question a day rule, I so liked it."

I smiled a little. "I don't think I asked any questions just made some statements."

"I suppose you did." He said then looked at me seriously. "Really Elena why can't you just drop this?" His eyes bore into mine probing me for an answer but I didn't say anything and I could tell by looking at him that he knew that I wouldn't budge. He sighed and looked down. "Thankfully my brother is back on his puppy diet so I don't think he's going to go on some kind of feeding frenzy while he's here."

He looked up and his eyes met mine again. "Your intuitiveness astounds me. You're right I sent Alaric here because of Stefan." he said then shook his head. "But your stubbornness, your stubbornness shouldn't surprise me at all but it still does. Grayson always said you were as stubborn as a mule."

"Grayson? You mean my father?" I asked confused.

He nodded his head and he gave me a small smile, "I'm guessing you didn't know that I knew your father, that we were friends."

"What…but ho…how?" I ask completely stunned.

"It's true," he said and pulled out his phone and showed me a photo of my dad with his arm around Damon and several more.

"But…but he was on the council…" I stammer unable to process the fact that Damon and my father had known eachother, were friends.

"And Gray was my original inside man," he said matter-of-factly and I just stared at him in disbelief. "I first met Gray on my last long visit to Mystic Falls 40 years ago but I didn't know that until later. Your father was a young boy at the time and somehow I had made an impression on him. Anywho years later I met him at orientation at Duke, he was an undergrad and I was getting my masters in…well who knows girls I think." he said and I glared at him. "Anyway we met, he recognized my face and when he heard my name he knew I was the same guy from years and years before and I hadn't changed one little bit. Gray having heard the Gilbert family legends knew I was a vampire, but he also believed that we couldn't all be the monsters that we had been made out to be so he befriended me. I tried to convince him otherwise but like you, he wouldn't budge and he wouldn't leave me alone. Grayson was the first real friend that I had made in over a hundred years." he said with a small smile and a far away look in his eyes and I couldn't help but smile too.

"After he became a doctor he was my source for blood bags, actually was the one who insisted I stop feeding on people and go to the more "humane" route. Whatever." he said rolling his eyes. "When your grandfather died and he was asked to join the council, he became my link to my old home. Somehow this town has always been a vampire magnet and when one would show up, I would come back, stay hidden and get rid of them."

"You're the reason why the council has never figured out what happens to the vampires that they knew came into town." I said, "You've been saving this town for years and no one even knows it.:

He nodded his head and looked at me closely. "I remember the day you were born. Your father called me, the excitement in his voice…the way he talked about you…" he said and felt tears spring to my eyes.

"Have we ever met before?"

"I saw you once when you were a baby but I chose to stay away for everyone's safety." he answered. "Your father was one of the best men that I have ever met in my existence. When he died…I had hoped his ring…but it was truly an accident and nothing could be done." he said with a sadness in his eyes but it was quickly gone.

"I sent Alaric here soon after your father's death to look out for Stefan in case he came back but also to look out for you and Jeremy. I felt I owed it to Gray to keep you both safe, but you Elena Gilbert, well I never imagined Stefan would get to you before I was ready." he said and I looked at him curiously, "My brother had been with me the last time I was here and at that time his animal diet was fairly new and he wasn't able to control the blood lust…and since then…I thought he could control it but I was wrong and I've been trying to follow him but I think he has somehow figured out that I was tracking him and he's been disappearing on me so sending Alaric sounded like a good idea. This is our home, it was only a matter of time until he came back here."

"So why did you come back here now if you didn't know where Stefan was."

"It's the town's 150th anniversary and Stefan has always loved history I figured if there was a time to come back it would be for this." he said simply.

"But it's become more than that hasn't it? You especially want to protect me right? I can see it in your eyes Damon, you're worried that Stefan won't be able to handle the fact that I look like Katherine." I said.

He groaned and stood back up and walked over to the window and looked out. I was afraid he was going to leave but then he spoke. "I've known about you your entire life Elena, but I've never known what you looked like until we met a few weeks ago. Grayson would send me those stupid Christmas card photos but I would never look at them. I wanted to stay detached but since I've met you that's been…impossible." he said quickly before turning back around to face me, "When I saw you that day I thought you were Katherine at first even though I knew that to be impossible. I'll admit I couldn't see past your face at first and I judged you as though you were her, but your father and Alaric they had always described you as being kind and compassionate especially about the people you cared about the most and I could see that but I've also seen that fire in you which is very much like Katherine. I thought you may be here reincarnated or something to haunt me but you're definitely not her. You are the complete opposite of everything Katherine was."

"I really look like her don't I?"

"If you stood side by side no one would be able to tell you apart." he said. "I thought Katherine's blood line ended with her but you're her doppelganger so I'm not sure what happened, she must have had a child no one knew about before she turned." He ran his hand over his hair and for the first time since I'd met him Damon Salvatore looked almost vulnerable. I didn't quite know what to make of it.

"And you're right, I'm worried about Stefan's reaction to you. Katherine was his first everything. He loved her and even though he will tell you otherwise, it broke him to lose her and I'm afraid of his reaction to you."

"Bu he's on animal blood now."

"Yes but drinking animal blood goes against all of our natural instincts as vampires. Animal blood can keep you alive, but it doesn't stop that desire, that natural need for human blood. It suppresses it but it doesn't mean he's not craving it." he said, "If he smells an open wound it's harder for him to control the blood lust because his craving is heightened.

"So you want me to stay away from him?"

"Would you if I asked?" he countered and I shook my head" "I'm pretty sure you wouldn't listen to anything I asked of you so I hope you just heed my warning and be careful when it comes to Stefan."

I nodded my head, "Do I have to worry about this town? Even though I know nothing would have stopped you, I let you in under the pretense that you wouldn't hurt anyone but you can't make that same promise with regards to your brother can you?"

"I'm going to watch Stefan and make sure he stays on the puppy diet."

"But you can't guarantee that he won't hurt anyone." I stated.

He sighed, "No I can't but I promise you I will do everything I can to not allow that to happen." he said looking at me intensely and I could feel myself getting lost in the depth of his eyes again. "You'd better get to sleep, it's late."

I nodded my head again and started to lie back down as Damon walked towards the window. "Aren't you staying?" I find myself asking.

He turns around and I can see the surprise written all over his face. "Do you want me to?"

"I…I…well you've been here every night without my knowledge, I just figured nothing would change just because I knew." I say and I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks.

A small smile played on the corner of his lips and he took a few steps towards me before leaning down towards me. "Do you want me to stay Elena?"

"I…I…I don't really care you've uh you've already been here all week." I say and I can smell the wonderful scent of his cologne.

"As much as I've enjoyed the Sleeping Beauty thing I should get back to the boarding house, Stefan should be back soon and Zach is leaving in the morning and I don't want to leave him alone in the house with Stefan." he said before standing up straight again and I felt a wave a disappointment rush over me but I tried not to show it. "You haven't invited Stefan in so you should be safe tonight."

"Ok." I said softly. He looked at me as if he wanted to say something but then turned back towards the window slowly. He looked back at me as he put his hands on the window sill and smirked, "Maybe I'll be back tomorrow night since you like having me around so much when you're sleeping. I wonder if I go into your dreams if I'll find you dreaming about me. Hmmm?"

I rolled my eyes as he smirked. "Good night Damon."

"Good night Elena. Sweet dreams."

I blinked and suddenly he was gone and the window was shut as though it had never been opened and no one had been in my room.


	7. We Have an Audience

**Seven**

**We have an Audience**

"Come on Elena you have to even a just a little bit care about you're going to wear. I mean this is the party of the year...A Midsummer Night's Dream."

"I thought the party of the year was the Masquerade or no wait the Founder's Ball. Come on Caroline there is a party of the year in this town every few months." I say laughing as I look through another rack of dresses that all looked the same.

"Ugh where is your spirit? We have never had a gala in the middle of summer before and this is based on Shakespeare, it's just so romantic and lovely."

"I don't even understand why they chose A Midsummer Night's Dream, it has absolutely nothing to do with the homeless." I comment as I give up my search.

"Probably because it has 'midsummer' in its name and we're in the middle of summer. Who knows what goes through Carole Lockwood's head when it comes to these parties. As least she's not making us dress up like fairies." Bonnie said.

"Thank goodness for small miracles." I comment and Caroline stares as us with a taken aback expression on her face.

"Ugh you two are absolutely useless. When we were little girls we used to talk about going to these parties and now that we finally can all the two of you can do is make fun of them."

"Actually Care I think you did all of the talking and we just sat there and listened quietly while you went off on one of your tangents. It was always better that way." Bonnie said smiling and I laughed.

"Bonnie!" Caroline exclaimed before taking off one of her ballet flats and throwing it at Bonnie playfully.

"Ew Caroline those stink." Bonnie said and threw them back at Caroline.

I laughed watching my two friends. I couldn't remember the last time I had been this carefree and smiled. Between my break up with Matt, Bonnie's witch discovery and my vampire problem now times two, things hadn't been light and easy like this in awhile. It felt good to just laugh again.

It was even good to see Bonnie smiling again too. Apparently her grandmother was teaching her all kinds of things and yesterday she came over all excited, ripped up one of my pillows and had made feathers float all around my room. It was pretty amazing and needless to say, now that she had control over her gift she was happier than she had been in a long time.

"Elena, Elena."

"Huh?" I said looking up to find both Bonnie and Caroline looking at me expectantly,

"Are you done, I'm hungry." Caroline said.

"Yeah I didn't find anything in here." I said nodding before grabbing my purse.

"Ugh this stupid town. Next time we're going to the mall." Caroline whined and I laughed.

"I thought you found like five dresses that were absolutely to die for here and that you thought were perfect." I said as I walked out the door and Caroline playfully shoved me in response causing me to run right into a hard body. "Oh I'm so sorry." I said straightening up. I looked up and was surprised to be looking into the amused green eyes of Stefan Salvatore. "Stefan."

"Elena." he said smiling. "This is a wonderful surprise."

"Stefan? This is Stefan?" Bonnie asked behind me.

"Who's Stefan?" Caroline asked annoyed then her face suddenly changed as she took Stefan in and started playing with her hair, "Oh hi."

Stefan looked amused but kept glancing at me. "Ladies, Stefan Salvatore, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Salvatore? Are you related to Damon?" Caroline asked and I glanced at Bonnie who looked at me with wide eyes.

"Stefan is my younger, more serious and less attractive baby bro," Damon said suddenly seemingly materializing out of nowhere. "Why Caroline it's wonderful to see you again." he said taking her hand and kissing it causing her to smile from ear to ear, before looking at Bonnie and me. "Elena, Bonnie."

"Damon where have you been? I haven't seen you in forever." Caroline scolded and started to rattle off other things while Bonnie, Damon and I stood there tensely and Stefan watched us all curiously, "Damon did you hear me?"

"Uh..."

"I apologize Caroline, my brother has been absent because he's been dealing with me." Stefan said and Damon gave him a sideways glance.

"Really you don't seem like much of a troublemaker." Caroline commented as she assessed Stefan.

"Well I wouldn't say so either but my brother likes to think I need a lot of supervision." he says looking at Damon pointedly and Damon rolled his eyes. "So what are you ladies up to?"

"Oh we were just looking for dresses for the Mid Summer Night's Dream gala." Caroline answered glancing at Damon who was ignoring her and was instead looking at me.

"Sounds like a lot of fun."

"Well yeah it is, but you'll see, you are coming aren't you?" Caroline said looking between Damon and Stefan expectantly.

"I'm not sure that I was invited." Stefan said when Damon didn't say anything.

"Well of course you are. You're a Salvatore of course you are. The Salvatore's are invited to everything as one of the founding members of this town and the invitation is addressed to the entire household, well anyone 17 or older." she explained.

"Well I haven't seen it, but then I haven't been here for very long." Stefan said to Caroline.

"The invitation arrived the other day." Damon said sighing with a bored voice. "I didn't show it to you because I didn't think you'd want to go, you know since you hate dancing so much."

"I don't know it actually sounds like fun and it will give me the chance to meet the people in this town." Stefan said

"I didn't know you were planning on staying in Mystic Falls long enough to meet the people." Damon said glaring at his brother.

"Well since my big brother is here, why not." Stefan responded and they stared at eachother for a moment longer before Stefan turned in our direction again, "I suppose you lovely ladies already have dates for the gala."

"Nope, unfortunately we're all dateless." Caroline answered glancing at Damon again hopefully.

"How is that possible?" Stefan commented sounding shocked. "Well we must fix this at once. "Three beautiful ladies shouldn't arrive without escorts to a party. Damon you should take Caroline and Bonnie..."

"Actually I already have a date, I just didn't tell the girls." she said quickly before glancing at me.

"Ok, well then Elena would you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you to the Mid Summer Night's Dream gala." he said taking my hand.

"I...I..." I looked at Stefan who was smiling, Caroline looked liked she was about to swoon, Bonnie eyes were wide, and Damon looked like he was about to murder someone. I wanted to say no but I couldn't come up with any type of appropriate excuse. I glanced at Damon again and he shook his head.

"Elena." Stefan said and I looked back it him and found him looking at me expectantly.

"I um...uh yeah sure."

"Wonderful." he said smiling before looking at Damon smugly.

"Ugh...Caroline want to go with me?" Damon said quickly.

"Yes of course!" Caroline said beaming not seeming to notice how unhappy Damon seemed about the turn of events.

"Uh guys I need to go" Bonnie said.

"Of course. I guess I'll see you again at the gala." Stefan said. "I suppose this means I should go look for a suit since I didn't bring anything appropriate with me. If you'll excuse me ladies, Caroline it was wonderful to meet you, Elena, I'll see you soon."

Stefan walked away and Bonnie started to a moment later after giving me a pointed looked.

"Caroline, why don't you walk Bonnie home." Damon suggested.

"But I'm not ready to go, I actually wanted to talk to you about..."

"Walk the witch home." Damon said looking into Caroline's eyes.

"You know what I think I'm going to walk Bonnie home. Bye!" Caroline said cheerfully before running after Bonnie.

"You compelled her!" I exclaimed glaring at Damon. "You promised Damon."

"Yeah well if I didn't then she would still be here chattering on about coordinating outfits and whatever else pops up into her mindless head and which means I never would have been alone to talk to you." he said.

"You want to talk willingly, that's a change." I snapped.

"Yeah well I can't have this relationship be completely one-sided now can I? It's about time you answered some questions of mine." he said leaning towards to me raising his brow.

"Relationship? We don't have any kind of relationship Damon. I'm just here to make sure you don't decide to start making the people of this town your next meal." I state before I start walking away.

"Are you trying to be infuriating or does it just come naturally to you?" he asked catching up to me. "What happened to yesterday when you wouldn't let well and enough alone even though I asked you repeatedly and were all _'no Damon this involves me too, I can feel it_.'" he said mockingly,

"Yes well yesterday you wouldn't tell me anything despite the fact that you were sneaking into my room every night."

"And I thought we came to an understanding that I had done that to protect you, from my brother because you look like just like the crazy bitch that turned him into a vampire." he said putting his hands up "and now you're going on a date with him!"

"He asked me to go with him Damon and I couldn't come up with an excuse to say no. He knew I was going and he knew I didn't have a date. What did you want me to do, it's not like someone else asked me." I said stopping to turn to look at him pointedly.

He stood there dumbfounded for a moment from the implication of my words and I shook my head and walked across the street when I felt someone grab my arm lightly stopping me. I turned and met was crystal blue eyes.

"I don't want you going to this gala with Stefan." he said quietly, his eyes piercing into mine giving me the feeling that he wanted to say more.

"I don't really have a choice. He asked and I said yes." I said shrugging.

"You make me crazier than any human ever has." he growled in frustration taking a step closer to me but dropping his hold on my arm.

"That's because you usually never take the time to get to know anyone. You just feed, compel, and leave." I say trying not to fall under his spell again as usually happened when I was in such close proximity to him.

"Is that really all of you think of me?" he asked looking at me closely and I shook my head. "You I should feel hurt, yesterday we almost kissed and today you're agreeing to go out with my brother. That's not very nice." he said smirking and I couldn't say anything. He must have noticed how flustered I was because he smirked again.

"What did you think I didn't realize that you had closed your eyes and your heart sped up when you thought I was going to kiss you." he said and my eyes widened in shock. "Don't worry you weren't wrong, I was going to kiss you and I would have if my brother didn't have such unfortunate timing."

"Damon I..."

"Don't worry I know you're speechless with anticipation but you're going to have keep waiting because I can't kiss you when you're about to go on a date with my brother." he said then his eyes darkened. "I can't believe you're going on a date with my brother."

"What do you care Damon? Who I go on date with is none of your business. Your brother asked and maybe you say he's dangerous but since I've met him he has been nothing but kind and polite unlike you."

"Oh well that's just great another one falls under St. Stefan's spell. I say he's dangerous and you completely disregard and what I say." he says frustrated putting his hands up.

"I'm not disregarding what you said, but if you say that he's on an animal diet then maybe he's not dangerous as you think."

Damon scoffed and looked at me incredulously, "Do you think this is the first time I've been through this? It never lasts. I know my brother. I get it; he's always had good manners. Everyone loves him but trust me it never lasts."

"Damon..."

"No Elena. If you get one paper cut, one scratch while around Stefan it may not end well." he said through clenched teeth.

"You really think that he's dangerous don't you?"

"Have you not been listening Elena. I don't think, I know." he said putting his hands on my arms. "Stefan may think he's in control now, that the animal diet is enough but the blood lust, he can't always control it."

"I'll be careful but I can't exactly say no now and you're going to be there to make sure that nothing happens." I say.

"I can't watch him every minute Elena. If you insist on becoming his friend I can't always protect you as well as this town." he said leaning in closer.

"I know you won't let anything happen to me." I say quietly.

"You really like treading on dangerous ground don't you?" he said leaning in closer, his fingers gently running up and down my arms. I was mesmerized by his eyes again, but a movement in the corner of my eyes made me suddenly aware that we were outside in public. I pushed Damon away lightly and he smirked and I gave him a small smile. Then I noticed something behind Damon and my smile faltered.

Apparently our argument had garnered an audience. Matt was standing at the entrance of the Grille watching us, Alaric and Jenna were watching from the front of the movie theater, Jeremy was next to his car and there were about a dozen other people standing there watching us. I hadn't realized it before but we had been arguing in the middle of the town square.

"Oh God Damon we have an audience." I say feeling my whole body flush in embarrassment.

He looked around but didn't look embarrassed or surprised for that matter, but then his face suddenly hardened as he looked out into the distance. I looked to where he was looking at and it was hard to tell because it was so far off but there was Stefan looking at us and my guess was he had just heard everything that Damon and I had been talking about.

* * *

For the rest of the day I lamely avoided everyone I knew by hiding in the library. Other than Alaric, I didn't know how to explain what exactly happened between Damon and I at the square. I'm pretty sure I could guess what everyone was thinking had happened between us – the heated argument, the proximity of our bodes to eachother, the fact that Damon nearly kissed me – yeah I'm sure it looked very much like some kind of lover's quarrel. Ugh.

And to top it off Stefan had most likely heard everything that we had said. Damon took off after Stefan without saying a word, leaving me standing there alone looking like an idiot. I tried to remember what Damon and I had argued about but when you're yelling at someone in the heat of moment, it can be kind of difficult to remember things. I mainly remember how angry and flustered he made me feel. I know we talked about Stefan but I don't think we said anything too horrible.

Ugh. Damon Salvatore was beyond difficult to figure out. He sounded jealous. He said he didn't want me to go to the gala with Stefan. Damon definitely sounded like a jealous boyfriend more than anything, but that couldn't be the reason for that whole argument, could it? Was he worried about me, the town? Was he worried about what Stefan would do, could do? I couldn't figure out whether he was more worried about me than anyone else, and he nearly kissed me again, but then he also said that he wouldn't try to kiss me again while I was dating his brother. What does that mean?

I really have to stop thinking about this. I got up and left the library and headed to the Grille to cure my growling stomach. The minute I walked in I knew I had a made a giant mistake. I thought about walking out but thought better of it and figured I had to face everything sooner rather than alter anyways.

"Hey Matt, do you have a minute?" I asked shyly when I reached Matt at the booth he was clearing.

"Un not really." he said impassively before turning back to the table to wipe it down.

"Look I know you saw Damon and I arguing and I just wanted to explain."

"What's to explain Elena? We're not together anymore so you don't owe me any kind of explanation." he said not bothering to look at me.

"I know but we're still friends…well at least I hope we still are and I don't want to think anything was going on that wasn't." I said and he sighed and stood to face me. "Damon and I…well it's nothing like that…he just…well he just knows how to push my buttons."

Matt put down the rag he was holding at looked at me, "But that's exactly it Elena." he says and I look back at him confused and he shakes his head, "If you say that nothing is going on between the two of you, then I'll believe you. We are still friends, we've known eachother our entire lives of course we'll always be friends, but that's what bothers me."

"What do you mean?"

"Even before we ever dated, we've always been friends and never have I ever seen you react that way with someone. It was clear that the two of you were fighting but it was the way you were arguing with him, it was passionate and fiery. You were so lost in whatever you were fighting about you didn't even know that you were in the middle of the town's square. I've never seen that side of you before Elena." he explained.

"He just makes me angry Matt. You really shouldn't read anything else into it."

"Maybe but I've never seen you act like that before. Shouldn't that tell you something right there Elena." he said. "Look I have to take care of couple of tables that just cleared, I'll see you later." he said before leaving.

I stood there slightly dumbfounded. Was I really that much different around Damon? He's the most infuriating person I know so of course I'm different around him, he knows how to push my buttons but it doesn't mean it has to mean anything does it?

"Elena I thought you were my best friend."

Crap Caroline.

I looked up and saw Caroline quickly walking towards me looking upset. "Look Care I don't know what you've heard but I'm sure it has been thrown completely out of proportion."

"Well I hope so because I can't stand to play runner up to you once again. Every guy in this town already worships the ground you walk on and the rest of ever get are your leftovers or castoffs, but this guy Elena, he noticed me first. I really like him Elena and its obvious his brother likes you. Can't you just go for him and leave Damon for me?"

"Caroline I didn't know you felt this way." I say touching her arm.

"Yeah well I'm the happy shallow one, no one ever sees how insecure I am." she says shrugging.

"Look I'm not after Damon or even Stefan for that matter. I'm kind of happy just being single at the moment." I say, "But Care do you really think Damon is the right person for you? I mean I know he's good looking and everything but he's an ass Caroline, you could do so much better than him."

"I like him Elena and he likes me, at least I think he does and if for once someone chooses me first then I'll take it." she says and I open my mouth to argue but she puts her hand up to stop me, "I know it's stupid and makes me sound weak and idiotic but if you weren't you, you'd probably think the same thing." she said and I was stunned speechless. What did she mean by that? "Look I've got to go, my mom is trying to cook dinner or something."

Well this day was on its ways to officially sucking. I took a seat at a table not wanting to go home just yet, knowing Jenna would have a million questions for me that I really didn't want to answer. I should have just stayed at the library. I doubt anyone would have noticed if I made myself a bed in one of the dark corners.

I don't know how long I saw there alone going over various things in my head when I felt a shadow looming over me. I looked up warily bracing myself for the next blow and was slightly taken aback to find Stefan standing there.

"Stefan what are you doing here?"

"Hello Elena," he said smiling then pointed at the empty chair across from me, "Mind if I sit, I was hoping to talk to you?"

"Uh sure." I said looking around for any sign of Damon.

"He's not here." he said studying me closely and I felt myself begin to blush under his gaze. "Don't worry that's why I approached you here so you would feel more comfortable and wouldn't be afraid to be alone with me."

"I'm not afraid of you." I said, "It's just…"

"My brother filled you in on a few things concerning me. I get it Elena and frankly you have every reason to be afraid of me. For one I am a vampire and I haven't always been successful on animal blood." he explained.

"Is it hard for you…I mean the blood lust." I say not knowing how to phrase the question.

"It's always difficult no matter what diet I'm on. It has been 145 years but I've never been able to control the blood lust the way Damon has, but I do know it's better if I stick to the animal blood." he said then leaned forward clasping his hands together, "Look Elena I can't tell you that I don't walk around and think about biting someone because I do, but I know that I don't want to so I will do everything in my power to not do that."

"I know you can't make me any promises, but I need you to promise me that if the urge gets to be too much, you'll leave before anything happens." I asked.

"I can promise you that." he says smiling and I can't help but smile back, "Now you have to make me a promise in return."

"What's that?" I ask confused. What could he possibly want from me?

"That you won't go to this party with me unless you absolutely want to. I know I put you on the spot earlier and I want to give you an out so here's your out." he said sincerely.

"Stefan you don't have to give me and out." I argue.

"I know but I want to just the same." he said, "Look Elena I'm pretty sure you've figured out that I heard you and Damon talking earlier and I know my brother doesn't want me to go with you."

Well then you must have also heard that I told your brother that I was going to go with you." I said but he still looked unsure. "Trust me Stefan when I say that I want to go with you. I don't need an out, plus you're saving me I need a date."

"Ok then," he said smiling, "It will be fun."

"It should be." I said.

"I'm glad that you're going with me. After I heard you and Damon earlier, well I assumed…" he started to say but stopped.

"You assumed what?"

"Well that you and Damon were together or were at least headed in that direction." he said.

"Uh no, Damon and I are definitely not together I can't stand him half the time…we're not…no."

"Ok it just seems the way you interact with eachother, but if I'm wrong..." he says pausing, "Well its just Damon seems to treat you differently than he does most humans. He seems to care about you in a way that I have not seen in a long time. He certainly wants to protect you."

"I guess so." I said shifting in my seat uncomfortably, "He...well I suppose he feels responsible for me in a way since he knew my dad."

"I see." Stefan said seemingly thinking it over before smiling again. "Well then that makes it easier then, I certainly didn't want to step on Damon's toes."

"Stefan I hope you understand that I'm going to this gala with you as friends only." I said and his eyes changed slightly. I thought a flash of disappointment but if there he hid it quickly, "I uh...I just got out of a relationship and I'm not ready to start dating anyone yet."

"Of course I completely understand." he said then glanced at his watch. "If you'll excuse me I should be getting home before Damon thinks I went on some kind of rampage."

"Sure but uh Stefan, I just want you to know that even though Damon is concerned about you, I hope you know that I trust you."

"That means a lot to me Elena." he said smiling before turning to leave. As I watched him walk away I couldn't help but doubt my own words.

* * *

_A/N: Please take the time to review. Thanks._


	8. A Midsummer Night's Dream

**Eight**

**A Midsummer Night's Dream**

"Seriously Caroline would you just shut up already!" Bonnie yelled finally having had enough. We had been getting ready for the Midsummer Night's Dream gala in my house and Damon was the only thing that Caroline was talking about. "Damon is just not as into you as you are into him, so you have to stop trying so hard."

"Bonnie." I warned glancing at Caroline who looked like she was on the verge of tears. Crap.

"No Elena, she's right. Damon could care less about me. He only asked me because Stefan asked you first. Everyone knows he's in love with you." She said looking at me.

"Care that's not true," I said trying to reassure her.

"Yes it is. Everyone can't stop talking about that fight between the two of you. No one knows what the two of you were arguing about but they say it was so passionate the two of you could have lit the square on fire and he almost kissed you." she said shrugging, "And everyone is saying he hasn't been out with anyone else since."

"Because he's going out with you Care."

"Please I wish but I haven't seen or heard from Damon at all this week. It's ok Elena we all know who he'd rather be going with." she said looking straight at me and I felt as horrible as I did when Matte confronted me about this very same thing and she told me she was tired of coming up second best to me all the time.

"Caroline I…"

"No it's ok Elena. You said you don't like him and I believe you. If he has a thing for you, I can't blame you for that." she said giving me a small smile that made me feel even worse. "I'm going to go to this gala with Damon and I'm going to show him exactly how amazing I am and what he's been missing out on." she said straightening up and wiping her tears.

"You are amazing Caroline and Damon Salvatore, he never deserved you." I say sincerely and we hug.

"Ok enough of all of this sappiness. We have a gala to get ready for." Bonnie said and Caroline and I pulled away and she looked at the clock and screamed "Oh no we only have 2 hours left to get ready!" she said as Bonnie and I laughed.

I sighed and turned and pulled my dress from the hanger. The week leading up to the gala was chaotic to say the least, but surprisingly normal which with everything that had been going on was a pleasant change. Caroline had been on a rampage trying to find the perfect dress. According to her she had to look more than amazing for Damon. I had found my dress easily enough after Caroline had dragged Bonnie and I to the mall in Richmond. I chose a one shoulder Grecian style pale pink gown that was beautiful.

While we were waiting for Caroline at the mall, I had asked Bonnie what she was going to tell Stefan when she showed up to the ball without a date, but she told me she actually did have a date but refused to tell me who it was and I had absolutely no ideas. As far as I knew Bonnie had been busy with her grandmother.

Jenna and Jeremy wouldn't stop teasing me about my argument with Damon. According to them I was in denial about my feelings and it only got worse when they discovered I was attending to the gala with Damon's younger brother. Jenna was convinced that I would be what came between the two brothers. If only she knew she was sort of right, just the wrong girl.

Then there was Alaric, who seemed to be up to something and it somehow involved Damon. At first I was concerned that something had happened but when I had run into Stefan in town he explained that Alaric had Damon busy with all kinds of extra errands for some sort of surprise. He said it must be something big because his brother was trusting him to roam around town unchaperoned. Interesting.

The strangest part of the week came in the form of the lack of visits from Damon or rather the fact that he was around but wasn't really. He no longer visited my room every night which I didn't know how to feel about. I did however see him on a couple of instances at my house. When I came home, Damon would heading out saying quickly that he just stopped by and the only person in the house was Jeremy. After this I started noticing a change in Jeremy, he was less moody, he picked up drawing again, and was even talking to me. It was as if my brother was finally coming back to me. I was happy with the change but I had this nagging feeling that Damon had something to do with it.

When the day of the gala finally arrived I couldn't have been any more relieved but I was also excited with anticipation. This was the first big even that I would be able to go to. Caroline and Bonnie came over early so we could all get ready together and Jenna joined us as well.

Two hours later the door bell rang and Jeremy ran downstairs to answer it. "It's your date's girls." he yelled up to us.

"Why do I feel like I just got finished getting ready for the prom?" Jenna asked as she retouched her lipstick.

"Because this basically is the prom for grown ups, but instead of spiked punch you actually get to drink alcohol." I said glancing at myself in the mirror again.

"Ok ladies let's go." Caroline said picking up her clutch.

Per Caroline's instructions we each walked down one at a time, Caroline first, then Jenna, me and Bonnie last since her date was meeting her at the Lockwood Estate. I suddenly felt shy walking down the steps and I kept my eyes down for the first few steps and when I finally brought them up I was met with Damon's beautiful crystal blues. He looked amazing in his perfectly tailored black suit. We gazed at eachother until Caroline cleared her throat. "Stefan why are you on the porch?"

I took my eyes off Damon and noticed that Stefan was in fact standing out on the porch awkwardly. I turned my gaze to Damon and he raised his brow and shrugged giving me a pointed look as if to say, '_Stefan is not invited in.'_

"Oh I just didn't want to crowd the foyer." Stefan said before I stepped out and looked at him. "You look beautiful Elena."

"You don't look so bad yourself." I said eyeing him in his light grey three piece suit.

"Ok now this really does take me back to prom." Jenna said watching us and she added sarcastically. "Who has a corsage? Anyone? Maybe we should all get in line and take a group photo."

"Prom huh? Well just wait you haven't seen anything yet." Alaric said and Jenna eyed him curiously until he pulled her out onto the front porch where I was standing with Stefan and he pointed to a limo that had been parked in the driveway that I had failed to notice.

"Yup definitely just like prom." she said smiling, "Let's just hope I don't get wasted and have sex under the bleachers again!"

* * *

We arrived at the Lockwood Estate laughing as Alaric, Jenna and Damon (who seemed to have many) regaled us with their old prom stories. As neared the front of the door, I immediately spotted Tyler standing outside on the porch.

"What's Tyler doing?" Caroline asked as Tyler stood up straighter as our limo approached.

"Uh…he's waiting for me." Bonnie said shyly.

"Tyler Lockwood is your date?" I asked surprised and she nodded her head. When Bonnie said she was meeting her date at the Lockwood's I never would have imagined it would be because he lived there. "Ok you're definitely going to have to explain that one to me later."

I took Stefan's arm as I stepped out of the limo and when we reached the house, I noticed Stefan hesitate in front of the open door.

"Oh go ahead and go in guys. Everyone is spread all around the house and the property." Tyler said from behind us.

Stefan visibly relaxed and took a step and easily walked in. I looked behind me and Damon walked in as well with no problems. We ran into the Lockwood's and I introduced them and what seemed like the entire town to Stefan. Everyone eyed us curiously especially when I told them he was Damon's younger brother. Obviously Damon and I really were the talk of the town. Just great.

"Would you like to dance?" Stefan asked as we walked down the steps towards the dance floor.

"Sure." I said smiling and he led me to the dance floor where a fast song I didn't recognize was playing. Stefan moved awkwardly but when he looked at me and I made a funny face he laughed and stopped trying so hard and loosened up.

From the dance floor I could see Jenna and Alaric standing with Sheriff Forbes, Alaric looking especially uncomfortable or nervous. I couldn't tell which. Tyler and Bonnie were standing at the refreshment table and it looked as though Tyler was being sweet with Bonnie and Caroline was surrounded by a bunch of guys while Damon stood there amused.

The song suddenly changed to a slower song and Stefan looked at me and I simply nodded my head. "It truly is amazing how little has changed in this town." Stefan said suddenly after we had been dancing silently for a bit and I pulled back a little to look at him. "The clothes of course are different, but there are still the balls and galas, the same historical buildings. It really is good to come home."

"When was the last time you were in Mystic Falls?"

"My last extended stay was 40 years ago." he said and something changed in his eyes at the memory. "It wasn't one of my better visits."

As difficult as Damon was to figure out, Stefan was proving to be just as difficult. They were so different from eachother, but there was also something so familiar about both.

"Is it hard for you to be around large crowds like this?" I asked looking around.

"No it's actually easier than locking myself away and staying away from people. When I do that and then come across someone, the blood lust is too powerful." he explains, "But being around people makes it easier, but it's always a struggle."

"Damon says one paper cut or scrape could be bad." I say cautiously.

"Yes he's right, although I hope I have more control than that." he says and I worry a little and he must notice because he squeezes my hand lightly, "But I made a promise to you that I would leave before I let the blood lust get the better of me and I intend to keep that promise."

I nod my head in understanding and we dance a little without talking for awhile before dinner is announced. "How does a teenager get involved with vampires anyways? I assume it isn't just because of Damon." he asked as we walked to our table.

"No I'm actually on the Founder's Council." I said and realization seemed to dawn on him. "When my parents died I took their place. Damon is actually the first vampire that I have ever met and you're the second."

"And obviously she met the best vampire first." Damon said coming up beside me smirking with Caroline in tow looking unhappy and I just glared at him. Stefan pulled my chair out and I smiled at him as I sat down while Damon took the seat next to me frowning leaving Caroline standing there awkwardly. Thankfully Stefan noticed Caroline standing there and pulled out her chair as well making her smile and Damon roll his eyes.

"Oh crap." Tyler said making everyone look up and I saw him and Bonnie looking behind me. I turned in my seat and saw Matt and Vicky headed in our direction. Oh crap indeed.

"Hey guys mind if we join your table. It looks like you have room for two more." Vicky said smiling brightly, glancing at Tyler as the vacant seat was next to him. Behind her Matt shifted uncomfortably fidgeting with his collar. I met his eyes and smiled.

"Of course." Alaric finally said when no one said anything.

"Great." Vicky said smiling pulling Matt along. As she took her seat right next Tyler, he shifted his body so he was facing Bonnie and Vicky scoffed.

"I didn't know you had come back from Florida already Vicky. How's Kelly?" I asked.

"I actually just got back yesterday. Didn't really want to come back but I couldn't leave Matty here all by himself." she said glancing at her brother. "My mom is good. We had a blast. Florida is so much fun."

"I'm sure Kelly taught you so much." Caroline said looking sweetly at Vicky but I knew she meant it as a dig. Vicky glared at her and before looking around the table.

"Hi I'm Vicky Donovan, I don't believe I've met the two of you before." she said smiling at Damon and Stefan.

"Oh we've met." Damon muttered but still loud enough for everyone to hear and I kicked his leg knowing he meant the night Matt and I broke up and he had to compel Vicky and Tyler. He glared at me and I gave him a pointed look in return hoping no one would notice our exchange.

"We have?" she asked, "I think I would have remembered meeting you."

"You work at the Grille or at least you used to. I'm pretty sure you served me once." Damon said impassively effectively dismissing and belittling Vicky.

"Oh." Vicky said blushing and Matt and Alaric glared at him.

"I'm sorry for my brother Damon's rudeness. I'm Stefan Salvatore. It's a pleasure to meet you, Vicky was it?" he said charm just oozing off of him.

"Oh yeah I'm Vicky." she said blushing even more again Stefan's gaze. He was definitely smooth. Stefan turned his attention to Matt who just looked plain uncomfortable.

"Oh I'm Matt, Matt Donovan."

"It's a pleasure." Stefan said again. Damon scoffed beside me and motioned to the waiter for another drink. The first course arrived and I think we all let out a sigh of relief.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

By the time dinner ended it was fully dark outside and for me dinner couldn't have ended fast enough. A five course meal was simply far too long. I immediately disappeared into the main house to use the restroom and to get away from our group. When I was coming back outside a hand covered my mouth and lifted me and pulled me away from the crowd. I struggled until he pulled me behind a tree and turned me around to face him.

Damon!

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I yell angrily pushing him away.

"We have to go. They already left." he said looking towards the woods anxiously

"What are you talking about? Everyone is still here." I say looking out in the party and spotting Bonnie and Tyler dancing as well as Stefan dancing with Caroline.

"I meant Alaric and Jenna. He's proposing…soon." he said nonchalantly before walking towards the woods. "Do you want to see this or not? I have to go or Alaric is going to kill me if I'm late."

"Alaric is proposing now?" I ask quickly walking after him.

"Have you not been listening, that's what I just said." he said and I glared at him but continued to follow him. I stumbled a bit when my heels dug into the grass but he grabbed me before I could fall frowning. "Get on my back." he instructed.

"Excuse me."

"We're never going to beat them if we stay at this human pace especially with you stumbling around like a baby that just learned how to walk." he stated and I looked at him annoyed. "I can get us there is a second."

I pointed at my dress and he muttered something under his breath before picking me up bridal style and I think I heard him warn me to "hold on tight" or something to that effect before I felt the wind on my face and saw a blur shapes whiz past me. It was amazing. I had never moved this fast in my entire life. I didn't know whether I should scream or throw up. Damon soon started to slow down until stopping in the middle of the woods. He looked down at me, his eyes sparkling and small smirk forming on his lips.

"Wow." I said without thinking and I wasn't sure if I meant by it exactly.

"Yeah pretty incredible." he said quietly gazing at me.

We stayed like that silently for awhile just looking at eachother until I became very aware that Damon was still carrying me. "Uh Damon you can put me down now." I said quietly.

"Oh uh… yeah they're almost here anyways." he said putting me down and his eye lingered on mine for a moment before he turned and stepped behind a tree as I looked around. Other than the light of the moon, it was completely dark. We were alone in the middle of the woods This was where Alaric was proposing, this couldn't be right.

"Damon where are we exactly, and why on earth would Alaric propose out here in the middle of the woods?"

"Shhh, they're nearly here." he said coming up beside me and turning me so I was facing the right direction but I still couldn't see anything.

"Damon…" I started to say but he put his fingers to my lips effectively silencing me. A moment later I heard a familiar laugh and saw light bobbing around from a lantern.

"Seriously Alaric when I suggested we go find a quiet spot to make out I didn't mean we had to go deep into the woods." Jenna said laughing

"Don't worry we're almost there." Alaric said.

"Where is there exactly Ric? We're in the middle of the woods, there's nothing out here."

"Seriously did she not see the trail of rose petals they've been following?" Damon whispered complaining and I noticed held some kind of controller in his hand.

"What is that for?" I asked motioning to the thing in his hand.

"You'll see." he said smiling, looking out into the distance. "In 3…2…1"

Damon pressed the button and suddenly lights lit up all around Jenna and Alaric creating a canopy of lights around and above them. Soft music started playing in the background and I could see the ground was covered in a blanket of pink and red rose petals. The look on Jenna's face said it all. Wow.

"You should close your mouth a fly might go into it." Damon whispered in my ear and I shoved him in response.

Jenna kept looking around her like she couldn't quite believe it and I didn't blame her. What Alaric and I'm guessing Damon had done was truly impressive. Alaric grabbed her hands and she looked at him with her eyes wide.

"Jenna you are so amazing. I didn't think it was possible to fall in love again. I had resigned myself to the fact that I would spend the rest of my life alone, but then I came here and you…you were like this burst of fresh air. You brought so much light back in my life. You are so beautiful. Everything you are… everything you have done for Elena and Jeremy, well you are so good Jenna and I don't know how I even deserve you." he said touching her face before suddenly getting down on one knee and pulling a box out from his pocket and opening it while Jenna covered her mouth with her hands in surprise. "I…I can't imagine my life without you in it anymore…I don't know if I can live without you in my life. All I see when I look into the future is you. Jenna Sommers will you marry me?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Jenna screamed out nodding her enthusiastically. Alaric slipped the ring on her finger before standing up and they threw their arms around eachother and he spun her around kissing her.

A tissue appeared in front of me and I looked at it curiously before taking it and wiping my eyes. I hadn't realized I had been crying until that moment. I was just so happy for Jenna. "Thank you." I whispered to Damon and he nodded his head in understanding. I found myself looking at him as he watched Jenna and Alaric dancing around. There was a content and happy look on his face that I don't believe I had ever seen cross Damon's face before. He looked genuinely happy.

"Stop staring its rude." he said giving me a sideways glance.

"You know I don't understand you. How can you be this guy, the guy that helped his best friend put together and execute the most romantic marriage proposal ever, but also be this complete jerk to everyone else especially Caroline." I asked and he looked at me and shook his head before he started to walk away.

"We should leave them alone before they get NC-17 on us." he said.

I stared at his retreating form for a second before glancing back at Jenna and Alaric who definitely needed their alone time now and followed quickly after him which was proving to be much more difficult than earlier with the gown, the heels and the darkness. I was able to catch up to him quickly probably because he was gong at an alarmingly slow rate for a vampire.

"I know that you're not the horrible jerk that you insist on projecting to the rest of the world so why do you always act like that?" I ask.

"Don't try to analyze my behavior Elena or try to see something good in me because I am not a good guy."

"Yes you are. Otherwise you wouldn't have helped Alaric with his proposal, protect me, or even hang out and talk to Jeremy." I said and he looked at me curiously, "He told me that you've been helping him, talking to him, encouraging him. Thank you. I feel like my brother is actually going to be ok."

He simply nodded his head in acknowledgement and I was half surprised he had done that. "Look Damon, I know you're capable of being a good guy but you're determined not to show it to anyone else so for the rest of the night can you just do me one favor?" I asked peering at him hopefully."

"It depends on what the favor is."

"Caroline. Even if you don't like her she is your date and she deserves to be treated better than you have been treating her. Dance with her, make her feel like you actually want to be here with her. For the rest of the night make her think she's just too good for you and then tell her at the end of the night that you just don't think the two of you were meant to be."

"Ok, but you have two do me a favor as well." he said and I grimaced. "Don't worry it's nothing horrible I promise. All I ask is for one dance.."

"One dance that's it?" I ask skeptically.

"That's it I swear."

"Ok." I said after a moment.

"Ok." he repeated and I smiled. We walked the rest of the way back in silence and before we broke into the clearing I touched Damon's arm lightly and he peered back at me.

"Thank you for taking me to see that. It was beautiful."

"I just figured if I had to sit through all of that sugar I might as well have some company and I figured you may want to see your aunt commit to tying herself down to one person for the rest of her life."

I just smiled and nodded my head and started to walk away but he grabbed my hand. "I thought you agreed to dance with me." he said.

"Here?"

"Can you think of a better place?" he said putting his arms out, "We can hear the music, the moon and the stars are bright, plus if we dance over there it will just get everyone talking again."

"You heard about that huh?" I said feeling myself blush.

"I hear everything Elena."

He held his arms out and I placed one hand in his and the other on his shoulder. We swayed silently to the music and I felt his arms tighten around me and my hands snake around his neck. Alone dancing under the moonlight, it all just felt right.

Damon released his hold on me suddenly and sighed, glanced at me briefly then looked toward the large manicure bushes.

"Stefan."

Stefan sheepishly came out and into view. "How was it, the proposal?"

"You knew?" I ask surprised looking between Damon and Stefan.

"Well Damon and Alaric were doing their planning at the Boarding House and even from my room I could still hear them, plus Damon asked me to keep Caroline busy while he brought you to watch your aunt get engaged." he explained.

"Wow, ok. I wasn't expecting that." I say not knowing what to say.

"If you'll excuse me, I should go find my date." Damon said walking away and I watched him walk away.

Stefan came up beside me and put his arm out, "May I escort you back to the party?"

I smiled and took his arm and grabbed a champagne flute from a waiter that we passed along the way, "So how was it?" he asked again.

"It was beautiful. Perfect."

"Would you like to dance?" he asked as I finished the contents of the champagne flute I had and I nodded my head smiling.

As we stepped onto the dance floor I noticed Damon talking to Caroline near our table. Her arms were crossed but he was talking to her and he put his hand out and after a moment she took it. I watched as he took her into his arms when they reached the dance floor and he brushed her hair back and look at her adoringly. I don't know why but I felt a small stab on pain watching them. This was exactly what I wanted him to do, what I had asked of him and I should be happy that he was doing it, but I felt the opposite. I watched as he pulled her closer and as they spun around the dance floor, Caroline's face adorned with a wide happy smile he caught my eye and in that moment I knew that I had been completely wrong about everything. I had misjudged Damon Salvatore and I had been lying to myself this whole time because there was definitely something going between us.

* * *

_Please review. Thanks. _


	9. Guard Down

Thanks for the reviews. I'm sorry this is late, but as I mentioned when I posted Wait to Turn things have been happening. Anyway, this chapter took a complete turn that even I wasn't expecting. I started writing it one way but then I thought it needs a twist this is what happened. I'm really curious to know what you all think because this is definitely different than what I first had in mind for this chapter.

o

* * *

**Nine**

**Guard Down**

After the gala I avoided Damon like the plague. This proved to be difficult though when Jenna and Alaric decided to throw a small barbeque which included the Salvatore brothers to announce their engagement and after their announcement Damon offered to throw them an engagement party at his house. Damon then asked Jeremy and I if we would like to co-host the party together and I couldn't exactly decline since my aunt was the other guest of honor. Oh joy.

Since school was resuming in three weeks we decided to throw the party sooner rather than later. This meant we had a lot to do in a very short amount of time and you would think that that would mean that I would have to spend a lot of time with Damon but I brilliantly had come up with separate task lists for Damon and me which meant we didn't have to spend any time together. Unfortunately my brilliant plan became decidedly less brilliant when I realized I couldn't avoid him when I needed to take measurements of the Boarding house for the decorations.

Ugh.

"This house is far too big. Are you sure you want the entire ground floor and the property decorated. It's going to be really expensive." I asked Damon while putting my notebook and tape measure away.

"Elena like I said before expense is not an issue here. You just tell me how much and to whom I need to make the checks out to and we're good." he said walking down the few steps from the library.

"Ok." I conceded knowing I wouldn't be able to sway him.

"Now are you sure you don't want to hire one of those party planners to do all of this stuff. School starts soon right, don't you have to get ready for that? Senior year and all."

"No party planner. Caroline and Bonnie are helping. Caroline is especially excited and if I can get everything ordered today it will all be ready in time for the party."

"Well in that case I'd better come with you. It will be easier and faster if I'm there to write out the checks." Damon said.

Oh crap. That would mean spending the day with Damon, running around doing errands. This was not exactly the way to succeed in avoiding Damon.

"Oh...uh...well..." I stammered trying to think of some plausible excuse why Damon shouldn't come with me.

"Oh hey Elena, I didn't know you were coming over today." Stefan said as he walked into the room.

"Oh, uh but don't you remember you said you'd help me get all of the stuff I need for the engagement party today." I said turning to Stefan pleading with him with my eyes.

He looked at me curiously then smiled. "Oh yeah sorry I forgot. It's a good thing I came back when I did then."

I smiled back at him and mouthed thank you and he nodded his head ever so slightly in response. I turned back to Damon who was looking at me suspiciously. "You're going with Stefan?" Damon questioned, "when did this arrangement happen?"

"Oh well uh…well I uh texted Stefan the other day and uh asked him if he wanted to come with me on some errands so there's no need for you to come. Stefan is coming with me." I answered lying horribly.

"I see," he said looking between Stefan and me then smiled smugly, "well I should still come along. I do have the checkbook. It will save you from having to go back later."

Crap I hadn't thought about that and by the expression on Damon's face, he knew I hadn't either.

"Damon why don't you just give Elena your credit card. It will be simpler and she can get everything done without having to go back." Stefan explained looking kind smug as he looked at his brother.

Ha! Apparently Damon hadn't thought about that either because he shot his brother a murderous look. I turned and smiled at Stefan sweetly for his brilliance and when I turned back to Damon he had pulled out his wallet and was a pulling out what looked like an American Express Black Card.

He held it out for me to take and I walked up to him and reached out for it but he pulled his hand back and took a step towards me and I felt my heart rate speed up at our proximity. "I hope you know what you're doing" he whispered in my year then pulled back and looked down at me with his piercing gaze. He held the card out but I was frozen by his gaze. He smirked at my lack of movement and placed the credit card in my hand. "Have fun."

I continued to stand there frozen until I faintly heard a door close in the background and I snapped out my trance shaking my head.

"If I didn't know any better I would say Damon had just compelled you based on your reaction, but that was all you wasn't it?" Stefan accused with an undreadable expression on his face. "So are you going to tell me why I lied and said we had plans to run errands together today? Not that I don't enjoy spending time with you Elena, but I do like to know what I'm lying for."

"It's nothing and you don't have to come with me. I can handle this all by myself and thanks to you I have Damon's credit card so it should be even easier now. Thanks." I said walking towards the door.

Stefan suddenly appeared in front of me blocking my path and scaring me slightly, "I never said I didn't want to come. I just said I'd like to know why I'm lying to my brother."

I didn't say anything trying to find the right excuse while Stefan continued to study me. "Wow, you like him don't you? That's why you haven't been around and why you didn't want to run these errands with him today."

"No." I responded quickly and he raised his brow, obviously not believing me. "I don't like Damon. I'm actually trying to figure out what to make of him, he's such a contradiction." I say sitting on the bottom step of the staircase and a moment later Stefan sits next to me.

"If anyone can understand the mix of emotions that come when it comes to my brother it would be me." Stefan said nudging my shoulder.

"It's just…he's just like two different people." I say looking at Stefan, "He projects this bad ass I could care less about people façade but then he does something like help Alaric execute the most romantic proposal ever and now throw them an engagement party. He even made my little brother whole again and he protects me. I…I just don't know how to feel about Damon."

"It's easier you know, when you're a vampire to pretend that people don't matter. I mean most of the time, they're your meal ticket so why get attached." Stefan said looking at the floor.

"But he drinks from blood bags now and you're not like that." I counter, "You always have impeccable manners and Damon's always an ass."

"It's not all without a great deal of effort, sitting here with you right now...and I was born in the 19th century, manners were a must." He explained.

"So then what's Damon's excuse for acting like a complete tool? He learned the same manners that you were taught." I argued.

"When you're a vampire, the traits you had as a human become amplified. I'm not saying Damon has always been a jerk, but he has always put up a nonchalant stance I think mainly in large part to protect himself. Our father was never easy with Damon, probably because he was the oldest. Nothing Damon did was ever good enough." Stefan explained, "By contrast I could do no wrong and even when I did do something wrong Damon would cover for me and take the brunt of my fathers anger."

"Damon's first instinct is to protect. Being the jerk I think is just a way to protect himself." Stefan said, "He's followed me for 40 years, making sure I was ok and making sure I didn't hurt anyone. It goes against our nature to want to protect but he does it anyway because it is who he is."

I let Stefan's words sink in for a moment, "You seem to really care about and understand your brother. I don't understand why there's a rift between the two of you." I said watching him closely.

"I do care about Damon, but too much has happened between us now. There is no go going back for us." he said shifting around.

"But you're here, together, that's a start." I said watching as he got up and walked to the other side of the room.

"I don't know why I'm here anymore. I'm just torturing myself. You're…you're obviously not her and whether you admit it or not you have feelings for him and Damon…" he started rattling off clearly getting upset, his face and demeanor quickly changing.

"Stefan I…"

"He killed her did he tell you that?" he spat out turning to me.

"I thought Katherine died in the fire at Fell's Church." I say confused.

"No apparently she escaped before the church was set on fire. I didn't know it until she found me a few decades later." he said appearing to be embroiled in the memory, "Damon wasn't with me at the time and Katherine and I were happy. She loved me. She wanted to be with me. Damon, he wasn't very happy when he saw her. He was jealous that she had chosen me and then one day he just staked her."

I couldn't say anything completely shocked. This explained so much. I glanced at Stefan looked so crazed and upset by the memory and it startled me. I began waking quietly towards the door but he must have heard me because he was in front of me shoving and pinning me against the wall, "He took her away me. I loved her and he took her away from me."

"Stefan." I said looking at his face.

"And now you…you have feelings for him. I can see it. Maybe I should take you away from him, even the score." he said menacingly.

"No...no," I tried saying shaking my head but he just pressed against me tighter. I looked around me trying to find something to use to get away but there was nothing.

"Don't lie to me. I see the way you are with each other. I see the way he looks at you." He said sneering, "If I take you away from him, he'll be devastated just like I was."

"Stefan you...you don't want to hurt me...it's me Elena." I said shaking looking into his eyes, "You promised me Stefan remember, You promised me that you would never hurt me."

"But you don't want me, you want him." He said whispering in my ear.

"No that's not true. I never said I wanted Damon." I argued shaking my head.

"It's written all over your face Elena. Maybe you can't admit it but I see it. You chose him, just like she did." He hissed.

"What are you talking about; I thought you said she chose you?"

"She did until Damon came back and confused her again," Stefan said, "I wanted her but he confused her, tricked her and he took her from me. I thought you were my second chance but you want him. Why couldn't you have just wanted me instead?"

"Stefan, no that's not…" I started to say as he swept my hair back away from my neck and leaned in closer inhaling my scent deeply. I peered down rigidly and saw the dark veins protruding around his eyes. I tried pushing him away but his hold on me was too tight.

"You smell so good." He said breathing me in again, "I…I…I just want one taste." He brought his mouth closer to mine and I turned my head away but he grabbed my face and made me face him. He brought his lips to mine, kissing me but I stood there rigid not responding but it did not deter him, he trailed kisses down my neck and I shut my eyes tight when he reached the spot I knew he was intending for and I braced myself for the bite I knew was coming.

I suddenly felt a gush of wind, then the pressure of Stefan's hold on me disappear and I heard a crash and glass breaking. I opened my eyes to see the blur of Stefan and Damon fighting, crashing into everything.

I quickly ran and grabbed my purse and pulled out the stake, vervain mace and syringe full of vervain Alaric had given me before Damon had rolled into town. I got as close as I could to the two of them and sprayed Stefan in the face with the vervain mace. His hands instantly went up to his face in pain and I hurried and shoved the syringe into his side and squeezed the contents into his body and after a moment he fell to the ground and I fell to the ground as well exhausted.

Damon looked from Stefan to me in shock. "Where the hell did you get those?" he asked after a moment.

"Alaric. He gave them to me before you came into town and said I should carry them with at all times, you know just in case. I just…he took me by surprise so I didn't have time to get them out earlier." I said looking at Stefan laying there and I wondered what the hell had just happened. When I looked up I found Damon watching me with an expression on his face I had never seen before. It was full of worry and sadness.

"I'm ok Damon." I tried to say nonchalantly standing back up smiling, "See not a scratch on me."

"But you almost weren't." He said quietly, "If I hadn't come back right away, he could have…"

"…but he didn't. You came back and I'm ok." I said stepping closer to him putting my hand on his arm, "Thank you for saving me. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you about Stefan. You were right."

"A thank you and an apology and a 'you were right,' wow, I should buy a lottery ticket or this is something that never happens." He said smirking slightly and I smiled. His face softened as he looked at me and then he did the last thing I ever expected. He reached out and pulled me into a tight embrace. It took a moment but I wrapped my arms around his waist and felt relief wash over me and I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I can't be sure but I swear I felt Damon place a kiss on the top of my head and as suddenly as it had started it was over just as fast and he released me and stepped away.

"I should get Stefan downstairs before he wakes up." Damon said turning away from and I nodded my head still slightly off kilter after our hug.

"What's going to happen to him?"

"I don't know Elena. He attacked you Elena, that's not something I can just forget." He said turning back to me defeated and I could see the pain in his eyes, "I…I…I don't know. You should go. You still have all of those errands to run for the engagement party. I'll come by and see you later tonight ok?"

"Yeah sure." I said nodding my head. I grabbed my purse and pulled the front door open but paused and looked back. Damon was crouched over Stefan and I saw him release a big sigh. I couldn't help but think this was somehow all of my fault.

* * *

Amazingly enough I managed to get everything that needed to be done for the engagement party finished, but when Jenna had asked me to about everything I had arranged later at dinner, I couldn't recall any of the arrangements that I had made. I tried to pretend that everything was ok during dinner but it was difficult. Alaric kept glancing at me warily throughout dinner and when I volunteered to take care of the dishes he quickly volunteered to help me.

"I'm assuming Damon told you what happened with Stefan earlier based on the concerned looks you kept sending my way throughout dinner." I said turning the water on.

"Sorry about that," he said sheepishly as he put a few glasses on the counter, "but are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine, it just shook me up. We were joking around talking and then he just snapped. I just, I wasn't expecting it from Stefan." I said as I rinsed off a dish and handed it to Alaric to put in the dishwasher.

"I'm just glad Damon got there in time. I honestly didn't expect that from Stefan either. Damon has always said that Stefan was a loose cannon but it was hard for me to believe especially after spending time with him." Alaric said and I just nodded my head.

"Hey Jeremy thinks that just because h can draw he can beat me in Pictionary. What do you guys say, you up for it?" Jenna asked smiling as you walked into the kitchen with Jeremy in tow.

"Jenna just face it you don't have a chance." Jeremy said laughing.

"Ooh those sound like fighting words." I said forcing a smile on a smile on my face. "I'm in."

Jenna and Jeremy went into the living room to set up while Alaric and I finished cleaning up in the kitchen.

"You ok?" Alaric asked after they left.

"I will be." I replied nodding my head hoping that was the truth.

"Now are you ready to get beat in Pictionary." I teased Alaric and he just smiled.

We ended our Pictionary battle a couple of hours later with Jeremy and I narrowly defeating Alaric and Jenna, however, he did have to concede that his drawing skills made now difference in this game especially when his sister (me) obviously was not very visual. It was nice to hang out like that with my family, be normal. I don't think that I had had a family night like that since my parents had died, but the events of earlier today continued to weigh heavily on me as trudged up to my room.

I walked into my room without turning the light on and walked to the window and peered out at the moon letting my mind wander.

"Please make sure to remind me ahead of time that family game night is happening so I can be sure to avoid it next time."

I turned and found Damon sitting on my bed against the head board with his feet laid out in front of him, and unlike the usual, I didn't jump. "Not a big fan of family game night, never would have guessed it."

Damon rolled his eyes and I had to bite back a smile, "Hey sassy, you weren't here during the 50's and early 60's when everything was oh so perfect. It was sickening. I had to escape to Europe for a bit of sanity." He said and I could just picture it, "Never thought Ric was one for family game night, you'll have to remind me to tease him about coyote ugly."

"How's Stefan?" I asked tentatively after a moment.

"Still locked up. I gave him a bottle of animal blood but I laced with vervain. It should keep him out of it."

"Why did you do that?" I asked sitting on the end of the bed watching him.

"Because he attacked you Elena. What should I have done, let him get all of strength back to he could go after you again?" he said getting up and crossed the room.

"Damon…"

"I warned you how dangerous he was but you kept on insisting he was fine and I…I…I let myself listen to you and I let my guard down with him. I thought…God how could I be so stupid!" he said hitting his own chest. "I, better than anyone knows how volatile Stefan can be, but I allowed myself to believe that things were different now and I let my guard down. I stopped watching him and he…he could have killed you Elena." he said and he was suddenly in front of me searching my eyes, "He could have killed you."

"But he didn't, you stopped him." I said carefully putting my hand on his shoulder. "You stopped him Damon."

"But I almost didn't. I was going to go to the Grille to get a drink but I thought better of it. What if I hadn't?"

"Damon you have to stop blaming yourself for this. I'm fine. This isn't your fault. Your brother, he's just, well he's just sick. He fooled us all Damon into thinking we were safe with him." I said pulling him down to the bed to sit next to me. "We were just joking around talking and then he started saying things about Katherine."

"Katherine? What did he say?"

"He said she didn't die in the fire at Fell's Church, that she found him later and she told him that she chose him until you came and that you staked her." I said looking at him and I knew it was true by the anguish clearly written all over his face, "You killed Katherine."

He stood up again and walked to the window looking out, his stance rigid and defeated like I had never seen it. "Yes." he said so simply and quietly that I almost missed it. Then he turned back to me and his eyes met mine and in them I could see the past haunting him. "I killed her but it wasn't that simple."

"What happened?"

"It's complicated Elena." he said and I could see him start to put his walls back up again and I shook my head walking up to him.

"No you don't get to tell me it's complicated and think that's ok. My entire life is complicated Damon. Nothing you tell me about Katherine, my doppelganger will make it any less complicated." I said forcefully.

He sighed before motioning for me to sit on the bed again and he followed suit, "When I came home on leave from the war, Katherine was already there. I was instantly taken with her, she had a fire and charm that was unmistakable and irresistible. I noticed early on that she and Stefan were quite close, but when I asked Stefan about his intentions he told me he wasn't interested, they were just friends so I began to court her myself. She and Stefan had of course been involved already; however, she compelled him to keep it a secret. If I had known I never would have gotten involved with her." he said and I looked at him pointedly and he smirked, "Ok well maybe I would have."

"Katherine was more than happy with my advances and she was soon in my bed. This was 1864 so the fact that a lady would do that with me meant only one thing to me at the time – we had to marry. I proposed and she laughed at me and told me marriage wasn't necessary and then she revealed who she really was." he said before looking back at me, "All my life I never felt like I belonged and I found myself more intrigued by the thought of a vampire than afraid of it. She never had to compel me, nor did she trick me into drinking her blood, becoming a vampire and spending all of eternity with Katherine like she promised sounded more amazing than anything else in the world and I stupidly believed everything that came out of her mouth."

He stood up again and walked over to the window looking out, his eyes focused on a memory. "My father approached Stefan and I about the existence of vampires and he warned us about what they were planning on doing. Afterwards I encountered Katherine and Stefan speaking about it, it was the first time that I was aware that they were involved and that he knew her secrets. I felt betrayed and I was beyond angry. She had played us both so well. Stefan he wanted to go to our father to make him understand that vampires weren't dangerous, but Katherine and I, well at least I thought we had convinced him otherwise. That night Katherine came to me, I wanted nothing to do with her, I was so angry about her deception and her relationship with Stefan. It was the first time she ever had to compel me. She made me drink her blood because she was worried that something bad was coming and it did. Stefan had gone to our father and even though he didn't tell him about Katherine exactly he told him enough to raise suspicion and father laced his drink with vervain and well you know that part." he aid looking back at me with a sadness in his eyes. "Stefan he was desperate to save her. I on the other hand, still angry didn't care, but when Stefan went off by himself to find her I followed. He was my little brother and no matter what I had to keep him safe. As he was attempting to free her I noticed someone pointing a gun at him and before he could shoot Stefan I threw myself in front of him and I was shot instead but they still got him. My last human memory is seeing my little brother fall to the ground, blood soaking his shirt."

I felt tears form in my eyes but I wiped them away quickly, entranced my Damon's story. "When I woke up we were near the falls with Emily. I no longer had any intention of becoming a vampire and I waited to die, but Stefan he came back one night and he brought a girl and I could see the change right away. He was a vampire and he wanted me to feed so I could stay with him. I didn't want to but my job my entire life was to protect my little brother. How could I just leave him alone like that, so I made the worst mistake of my entire existence." he explained sadly, "Stefan, he was so different after that transition. He craved, needed blood, he didn't know how to control it. I guess the teenage hormones carried with him when he turned. After awhile I couldn't stand it anymore and I left, when I came back around a few years later Katherine was with him. I was surprised but not surprised that she was still playing her same games. She said she wanted us both and now we could spend for all of eternity together, just the three of us. I resisted at first but Katherine she had a way of getting into your head and one night I couldn't resist anymore and Stefan caught us. He was furious and I was furious especially with Katherine who looked satisfied. I couldn't do it anymore and I brought her someone that I had fed vervain then stabbed her right in the heart. I killed the woman I loved. I killed that manipulative bitch."

"You killed her to protect your brother." I said walking up behind him.

"Of course you would get it, Stefan never quite understood that." he said shaking his head, "He won't ever forgive me for it."

"You did the right thing Damon." I said softly.

"Maybe." he said peering down at me with his crystal blue eyes, "He wanted to hurt you tonight to get back at me didn't he?"

"I…I…yes I think that's what he said." I admitted looking into his eyes.

"He's right, it would have hurt me. If you had gotten hurt…" Damon started to say softly his hand coming up to stroke my hair, there was so much emotion in his eyes that I had never seen before, "I…I…don't know if I could have survived it."

A tear rolled down my face and I did the only thing I could think of to do, I placed my hand behind Damon's neck and pulled him close until our lips touched and the rest of the world melted away.

* * *

A/N: Please please review!


	10. Preparations

Hey everyone...sorry this is so late. I really appreciate all of you that have written reviews and have added this story as your favorite or as an alert. I've been hitting a writer's block and have lost my inspiration which is why this is so late. I've started writing again but _Prove Me Wrong _only. If you've also been reading _Wait to Turn_ I'm afraid you may be waiting awhile for an update on that. I'm seriously blocked on where to go with that one. Be patient though it will continue and I'm gonna try to get the next chapter for this story out to all of you as soon as possible.

Thanks again and please let me know what you think.

O

* * *

**Ten**

**Preparations**

"Maybe." he said peering down at me with his crystal blue eyes, "He wanted to hurt you tonight to get back at me didn't he?"

"I…I…yes I think that's what he said." I admitted looking into his eyes.

"He's right, it would have hurt me. If you had gotten hurt…" Damon started to say softly his hand coming up to stroke my hair, there was so much emotion in his eyes that I had never seen before, "I…I…don't know if I could have survived it."

A tear rolled down my face and I did the only thing I could think of to do, I placed my hand behind Damon's neck and pulled him close until our lips touched and the rest of the world melted away.

It took a moment, probably from shock but Damon finally responded and when he did his lips crushed into mine and he pulled me flush against his body. His lips moved with mine, crushing them expertly. I heard a moan escape my mouth and his tongue darted in silencing me. I couldn't get enough so I pulled him closer, kissing him with as much passion as I could.

His hands were in my hair, tugging ever so lightly and my hands roamed the plains of his sculpted back. Kissing Damon was like nothing I had ever experienced or felt before.

"Elena do you know where the band aids are?"

Damon broke the kiss and I instantly missed his touch. I opened my heavy drunken lids slowly and saw him peering at me amused.

"Elena do you know where they are?" Jeremy yelled from the bathroom. A moment later he opened the door from bathroom entering my room. He stopped in tracks and was a silent as he looked at me with a quizzical expression on his face. "Uh Elena why are you standing in the middle of your bedroom like that? What happened to you?

I looked at Jeremy and then noticed the way I was standing with my hands half up and I looked around the room but no one else was there. Damon had disappeared.

* * *

It was finally Saturday, the day of the engagement party and I'm pretty sure Damon had been avoiding me for the entirety of the week leading up to this day or maybe it was me that had been ignoring him. I had no idea at this point, but either way I just knew that we hadn't seen or spoken to eachother in a week so as I now stood in front of his door I felt uneasy with anticipation.

"Uh Elena are you going to ring the bell?" Caroline asked, "They're not going to know that we're here unless you ring the bell."

"Yeah come on Elena, you promised me coffee and so far I haven't had one jolt of caffeine and it's insanely early to be awake for a Saturday morning." Jeremy complained from behind Bonnie.

"Fine," I said before sighing and pulling down on the bell cord and I was surprised when a moment later a beautiful blonde I had never seen before opened the door.

"Oh uh…hi…is uh…Damon here?" I said awkwardly and trying to figure out who this woman could be and why she was opening Damon's door.

"Yeah he's just upstairs taking a shower." she said looking at me with a curious expression on her face. "You must be Elena, I've heard so much about you." she said before stepping aside for us to enter and if I wasn't mistaken looking me over, "I'm Lexie, an old friend of Damon and Stefan's and well I know Alaric too."

"Oh." I said then pointed to my friends. "This is Bonnie, Caroline, and my brother Jeremy."

We all stood there awkwardly for a moment in the hallways until Jeremy spoke up. "We should probably start setting up this place is huge, it's going to take forever."

I nodded and put my purse down on the credenza looking for the sketch of the design layout I had made earlier in the week.

"Damon, Stefan, and I actually got all of the furniture moved out last night and apparently all the decorations are in the living room in those boxes." Lexie said following Caroline, Bonnie and Jeremy into the living room, "Do you guys want some breakfast first; I kind of made a lot."

"A lot, you have an entire spread here for an army." I heard Jeremy say incredulously, "Score!"

I shook my head as I pulled out what I needed from my bag and looked them over.

"Hey Lex is someone here?" Damon said appearing at the top of the stairs just as I looked up. He was clad in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, his chest was bare and I could make out a few droplets of water still on his chest. I felt my heart rate speed up, my breath hitched, my mouth suddenly go dry, and my entire body blush. The bag I was holding slipped through my fingers without my realizing it and I jumped when it the floor spilling its contents everywhere.

I blushed even further and forced my eyes away from Damon finally and quickly bent down to pick everything up but blushed even more when Damon was suddenly bent down in front of me helping me pick everything back up. We reached for the same thing and our fingers touched and I felt a current go through me. I brought my eyes back up to look at him and I quickly brought them back down when I realized he was only wearing a towel.

"Sorry I'm such a huge clutz." I said blushing further as he handed me some things..

"No problem. I'm sure I startled you. I didn't know you were here." he smiling handing me some a tampon. Oh no.

"Oh well uh we uh just got here to set up and Lexie let us in. It's not just me uh Jeremy, Bonnie, Caroline and me I mean." I said biting my lip. "I hope you don't mind. I uh didn't get the chance to talk to you and we wanted to get everything set up so uh here we are."

"No it's fine. It's just…"

"Oh good you're down…but not dressed." Lexie commented as she walked into the hallway looking between the two of us and I felt myself blushing again. How many shades of red were there anyways because I'm pretty sure I have turned every single shade in the span of two minutes. "Uh sorry was I interrupting?"

"No, no I just dropped my bag and Damon uh helped me pick everything back up." I said quickly trying desperately not to look at Damon. "Uh shouldn't you get dressed Damon?"

He looked at me and smirked then leaned in closer, "Why? Afraid you'll see something you like?"

"I don't think so." I said taking a step back from him.

"Really?" he commented smirking.

"Damon be nice." Lexie scolded. "Elena's right you should get dressed." When he didn't budge she walked up to him and pulled his ear toward the stairs. "Go upstairs and get dressed so you can help get everything ready for this party you offered to throw."

He glared at her and she just glared back until he finally huffed and started walking up the stairs. I think I may have even him muter 'bossy' before he sped up the stairs.

"In 168 years you would think he would have learned something by now." she said smiling at me.

"Oh uh have you known Damon that long?" I ask curiously.

"Not quite. I met them a little after they first became vampires 145 years ago. I met Stefan first, and then Damon. He and I have a bit of love hate relationship." She said looking at me closely and I felt uneasy under her gaze, "I'm sorry to keep staring, but I can't believe…wow I can't believe how much you really look like her. Damon said you did but it's uncanny."

"You knew Katherine?"

"No not exactly. We were introduced when she made her return from the dead, but she didn't like me too much and I saw how clearly Stefan was smitten. He certainly wouldn't listen to anything I had to say so I left them to it which of course turned out to be a huge mistake. I returned following the aftermath of her actual death." she explained.

"Oh."

"I'm sure you're wondering who I am exactly and what I'm doing here and what my connection is to the Salvatore brothers right?" she said and I nodded my head sheepishly.

"It's ok, I'd be wary of me too, another vampire in your town that's very familiar with the boy you're into." she said giving me a knowing look and I opened my mouth to protest but she put her hand up, "its ok I won't say anything but just so you know the two of you are so obvious." she said smiling, "Anyway you have nothing to worry about with me. I value human life explicitly. I won't hurt anyone you have my word on that. It's why I'm always the one he calls after Stefan looses control. Damon called me and told me what happened with you. I'm sorry that he hurt you or almost hurt you. I wasn't entirely clear on how far it got. Stefan he…well he's a good person but the monster inside of him…well I'm kind of the only one that can calm him down and keep that monster at bay but Stefan he doesn't like to be smothered so I can't stay with him all the time."

"So you have a long history with the Salvatore's then."

"In a way. I've spent more time with Stefan, he's my best friend. Damon on the other hand well he and I don't really get along. We're friendly but mainly because of Stefan. It's really a love/hate relationship and we've had our fun together and it was definitely fun but oh uh… but you don't want to hear about that. Sorry." she said fumbling slightly eying me and I shifted uncomfortably, "You know I'm glad he's finally found someone. Don't get me wrong, it's weird that you look exactly like that annoying bitch Katherine, but I can tell you're the exact opposite of her, you care and well Damon he deserves someone like you."

"Oh...I...uh..."

"Oh look Lexie Stefan's calling you...off to the basement you go." Damon said as came down the stairs and walked right up to Lexie before pushing her towards the door to the basement. They said a few hushed words to eachother that I couldn't make out before Lexie laughed and patted Damon's face while he grimaced. "See you later Elena. It was nice meeting you." she said waving to me before disappearing down the stairs. Damon shut the door behind me then looked at me sheepishly.

"I would apologize for her but it would be futile since she's always like that."

"Don't worry about it. She just cares about you and uh...Stefan." I added after a moment. "So you've known Lexie a long time."

"Yeah she's been the pebble in my shoe that keeps coming back no matter how much I ask her not to."

"The two of you are close." I say uneasily but wanting information about their relationship.

Damon didn't say anything he just eyed me before walking up to me slowly. "There's nothing going on between Lexie and me. We've had fun in the past like she said but it's been a long, long time since that has happened. We hate eachother more than we like eachother. If it wasn't for baby bro we'd probably never see eachother."

"I...I...that's none of my business..." I start to say but stop as he leans in close. "Only if you really think so, I mean after the other night I thought…" he said in my ear before pulling back to look at me intently. It was next to impossible for me to not be affected by Damon when we were this close. His crystal blue eyes alone simply mesmerized and drew me in.

"Hey Elena do you have...Oh sorry."

I looked up and found Bonnie looking between Damon and I and I immediately took a step back. "Sorry I was just looking for the sketch of the designs for the layout."

"Uh yeah I have them right here." I said holding out the designs and walking towards Bonnie. She looked at me and I gave her a pointed look before she grabbed the designs and walked back into the living room. I hesitated a moment before I started following her.

"Elena." Damon said stopping me. I turned around and looked at him and I was slightly startled to see him looking so serious when just a few moments ago he had been teasing me. "There's uh something I do need to discuss with you, it uh concerns Stefan."

"Stefan?"

"Yeah he's leaving for our villa in Italy tomorrow so he won't be bothering you anymore, but for tonight I was hoping to allow him to attend the party if it's ok with you. I know he doesn't deserve it, but I don't want people to ask questions nor do I want someone to accidentally stumble upon him."

I didn't say anything for a moment thinking about it before bringing my eyes up to him. "You really think it's ok to have him at the party around everyone? Is it safe?"

He shook his head and I could see the honesty and pain in his eyes. "Lexie believes it is and as much as I have to admit it she's usually right especially when it comes to Stefan." he said looking at me and he must have seen the doubt in my eyes because he brought his hands up to my arms and dipped his head down so he was completely level with me, "I promise you Elena I won't let anything happen to you or anyone else here. Lexie and I will stay with him the entire time."

If I didn't know any better I would think Damon had been trying to compel me, but I knew better and I knew that all he wanted was for me to trust him. "Ok I trust you." I said slowly.

A strange look flashed through his face and then he suddenly released me and started walking towards the living room. "We'd better get everything set up." he said before disappearing around the corner.

What just happened?

* * *

It took eight long hours but everything was set up and ready to go. I had to admit that even I was amazed with what we had been able to do. Doing it all ourselves with the exception of hiring caterers in hindsight was definitely a crazy idea. Damon was right we should have hired an event planner, but I don't know we had together done an amazing job. We had somehow managed to transform the bottom floor and grounds of the Boarding House to look similar to the forest when Alaric proposed. It was absolutely beautiful. The bottom floor of the house was more intimate with twinkling lights sheer fabrics draping the walls. The music playing in the house gave it more of VIP club vibe and the outside was like a little secret garden with the lights and the flowers and soft classical music playing. The look on Jenna's face when she walked into the Boarding House said it all. She had tears in her eyes and was speechless except for continually muttering that after everyone saw this, whatever she came up with for her wedding was going to be a giant disappointment.

I was now upstairs in one of the many guest rooms getting ready since I didn't have time to run back home without being late. Since I was co-hosting this party, I wanted to be here when everyone arrived.

Co-hosting with Damon. Hmmm…. After our encounter in the hallway it seemed as though Damon was trying to avoid me. When I was inside he would find an excuse to go outside or if we found ourselves alone or in the same room he would find an excuse to leave. It was odd, one moment he was flirting with me and the in next he looked like he'd throw down his life for me and then in the next he avoided me like the plague. Was he avoiding me?

A knock on the door suddenly distracted me from my thoughts.

"Come in."

A moment later the door opened behind me and I saw Stefan appear from the reflection in the mirror. I turned around quickly and gripped the brush I had grabbed and faced him, completely unsure of what to do.

"Wha...what...what are you doing here Stefan?" I ask fearfully but trying to sound unafraid.

He put his hands up in what I was assuming was a sign of peace and made no moves to enter the room any further.

"I'm sorry to disturb you Elena. I truly mean you no harm, I just wanted to talk to you and apologize for what I did to you. I…I…I don't know…you didn't deserve what I did to you." he said looking pained.

"Stefan I thought, I thought Lexie and Damon were staying by your side all night." I said feeling fear course through me and it must have shown on my face because he turned and pointed to the hallway.

"Lexie is right outside the door. I convinced her I needed to talk to you." he said and I could see the sadness in his eyes. "I know you don't want to hear what I have to say and you have no reason to listen to me, but I truly am sorry. What I did to you was because of my issues with Damon and those issues are over a century old and have nothing to with you. You're not Katherine and you're…you didn't deserve what I did to you. I'm so sorry."

We stood there for a few moments not saying anything more. I didn't know what to say. After a minute he gave me a small smile and turned to leave.

"Stefan." I said and he turned to look at me. "Damon told me that you're leaving for Italy tomorrow."

"Yeah our family has a villa in Tuscany. It's the best place in the world for me especially after I've fallen off the wagon so to speak. Lexie loves it and Damon as well." he said smiling.

"Damon is he going too?" I ask surprised.

"Yeah it was his idea. It was originally only supposed to be Lexie and me, but he insisted in coming too." he said then gave me a knowing look. "I'm guessing he didn't tell you that he was leaving."

"No, no he didn't." I say feeling slightly shaken by this piece of news. Stefan was watching me closely and I stood up and walked over to him. "I should finish getting ready and get downstairs. The guests will be arriving soon. Stefan I…I hope you can control this because before it all happened I saw what a good guy you were and I believe you really are that good guy and not some monster."

"Thank you Elena. That means more than you know especially coming from you." he said before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

I walked back to the vanity and looked at my reflection in the mirror and saw the sadness reflected in my own eyes. Damon was leaving with Stefan. No more vampires in Mystic Falls. Why couldn't I make myself feel like this was good thing?


	11. Please Don't Go

_A/N: Ugh. Sorry, sorry, sorry for the super late update. I had some serious writer's block and could not get out of it. This chapter is definitely completely different than what I originally intended for this story, but I think [hope] it works. I have a little bit of a vacation so I'm hoping to be able to get the next chapter out soon. I'm still sightly blocked but I've got some ideas. Please, please let me know what you think of this story. Reading your reviews always helps._

_Thanks - O_

* * *

**Eleven**

**Please Don't Go**

I walked back into the boarding house and smiled as I watched everyone dancing and enjoying themselves. The engagement party was a huge success. Jenna and Alaric were thrilled and everyone was having a good time, even Carol Lockwood had mentioned how impressed she was and had even asked me if I would be interested in helping her organize an event.

I let my eyes wander, looking for one person in particular, but he was nowhere to been seen. I saw Bonnie and Tyler dancing and Caroline surrounded by a group of guys. She noticed and waved and I just waved back and smiled. I noticed Jeremy and Matt talking near the window and slowly made my way over to them and I smiled when they looked my way.

"Hey Lena." Matt said.

"Hey guys." I said before turning my attention to Jeremy. "Hey how about taking your sister for a spin around the dance floor."

"Sure," he said smiling before we excused ourselves from Matt and made our way to the middle of the dance floor and started swaying to music. "You did an amazing job Elena. I certainly could have done without all of the manual labor you put me through today, but I definitely have to admit this place looks amazing."

"Well it is amazing what you can do with someone else's deep pockets and a few big ideas." I say smiling, "I don't know though, I just figured its Jenna she deserves all of this especially after all she has done for us."

"Yeah, I still can't believe she's actually getting married," he commented looking over to where their aunt and Alaric were dancing and laughing on the other side of the dance floor. I glance over at them as well and smile. "Whoever would have thought that Jenna Somers could take care of two teenagers on her own when she never quite grew up herself." he said and I laugh.

"Good point."

We swayed silently to the music for a moment, neither of us saying anything. "I never thought it could be like this again." Jeremy said suddenly.

"What?" I ask pulling back to look at him.

"Happy, content," he said shrugging but I could see the emotion in his eyes, "Thins just feel good right now. After mom and dad I just…"

"I know." I say softly nodding my head in understanding, "You really scared me there for awhile Jeremy. I wasn't sure if you would ever come out of your emo phase. I haven't wanted to push you but what happened, you just seemed to come out of it?"

He shrugged. "Nothing really I just well, I told you I started talking to Damon. He approached me at the Grill one night when I was just hanging out and drawing and he told me how good it was and then we just started talking about stuff and he was telling me these stories and I don't know he just reminded me of dad. You know how dad used to encourage us and was constantly telling us that we could do anything we wanted to do and well I just got that feeling again." He explained, "Damon he made me see that maybe all of those things that I had dreamed about growing up were still possible. I miss them but he helped me realize that mom and dad would want me to move on and be me again."

Elena felt a tears spring to her eyes at her brother's words. "You're right they would have. I'm glad you see that Jer."

"Me too." He said and I pulled him into a tight hug. Over his shoulder I spot Damon and my eyes lock with his and I can't help but smile and mouth 'thank you' knowing that he probably heard every word Jeremy and I had just said.

I had barely seen him all night, glimpses here and there. I was sure he was still avoiding me and now that I was able to get a look at him I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Damon for his part just stood there staring right back, but he seemed to be debating with himself until a determined look suddenly washed over his face and he started walking towards us, his eyes never leaving mine. I stop moving when he reaches us and Jeremy turns to see why I've stopped and looks between Damon and me and shifts from foot to foot. My eyes finally leave his as he holds out his hands to me and I find myself blushing but smiling looking at his outstretched hand. I think Jeremy mumbled some type of excuse to leave because he's suddenly no longer there. After a moment I put my hand in his and wrap my arms around him.

We sway silently to the music, our eyes locked enjoying the moment. The song suddenly changes, a slightly faster beat but we don't move away from eachother and keep swaying slightly.

_There's a fire starting in my heart  
Reaching a fever pitch, and it's bringing me out the dark  
Finally I can see you crystal clear  
Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your ship bare  
See how I'll leave with every piece of you  
Don't underestimate the things that I will do_

_There's a fire starting in my heart  
Reaching a fever pitch  
And it's bringing me out the dark_

"You've been avoiding me." I say matter-of-factly breaking the silence.

"And what would make you think that?" he asks raising his brows.

_The scars of your love remind me of us  
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all  
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless  
I can't help feeling  
We could have had it all_

"I don't know, probably because you're leaving and it either slipped your mind to tell me or you just weren't planning on saying anything at all," I say giving him a knowing look.

_Rolling in the deep  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)  
You had my heart inside of your hand  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
And you played it to the beat  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)_

"Let me guess Stefan, no wait big mouth Lexie told you," he concludes frowning.

"It was Stefan but it doesn't matter. By the look on your face I'm guessing you were just going to disappear without even a good-bye." I say sadly starting to pull away but he tightens his hold on me and I glare at him.

_Baby, I have no story to be told  
But I've heard one of you  
And I'm gonna make your head burn  
Think of me in the depths of your despair  
Making a home down there  
As mine sure won't be shared_

_The scars of your love remind me of us  
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all  
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless  
I can't help feeling  
We could have had it all_

He looks at me for a moment and shrugs, "What's the point, it's best for everyone if I leave and plus I figured you'd be happy that there wouldn't be anymore deadly vampires lurking around Mystic Falls anymore."

_Rolling in the deep  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)  
You had my heart inside of your hand  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
And you played it to the beat  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)  
We could have had it all  
Rolling in the deep  
You had my heart inside of your hand  
But you played it with a beating_

I stop moving and look at him incredulously, feeling myself get angry. "Is that what you really think Damon? That I wouldn't care if you just disappeared without a word?"

_Throw your soul through every open door  
Count your blessings to find what you look for  
Turn my sorrow into treasured gold  
You pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow_

A brief flash of surprise passes through his eyes and he opens his mouth to say something but quickly shuts it. He seems to be thinking about something and I can see doubt in his eyes, "Elena I…"

"Hey mind if I take my future niece for a spin around the dance floor." Alaric says as he and Jenna dance up next to us. Neither of us say anything right away and after a moment Damon smiles.

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
We could have had it all  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)  
We could have had it all  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
It all, it all, it all  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

"Of course, but only if I get to dance with Jenna. I need to make sure she knows what a _giant_ mistake she's making and that there are better options out there, mainly me." he says before he releases me and sweeps Jenna up into his arms and dances her over to the other side of the room.

We could have had it all  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
Rolling in the deep  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)  
You had my heart inside of your hand  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
And you played it to the beat  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

You could have had it all  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
Rolling in the deep  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)  
You had my heart inside of your hand  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

But you played it  
You played it  
You played it  
You played it to the beat.

"He certainly has always had a flare for the dramatics." Alaric says shaking his head before offering me his hand.

"I suppose he does." I say stepping into his arms, glancing at Jenna and Damon dancing and laughing. "I suppose you should give me an 'I told me so'.

"Why would I do that?" he said looking down at me curiously.

"Because you told me I shouldn't judge Damon simply because he was a vampire and that he wasn't so bad and well you were right." I admit.

"Well he does have a way of growing on you." Alaric said smirking then gave me a curious look.

"What?"

"Well it looked like Jenna and I interrupted something when we cut in." he comments.

I shrug before glancing briefly at Damon then bring my eyes back to Alaric, "Did he tell you that he's leaving with Stefan tomorrow?"

"No, but I'm not surprised. Damon isn't one for staying around for too long." he says glancing over at Damon before turning back to me with a knowing look on his face, "But he's also never had a reason to stick around before either."

I look at him and smile, "Ric have I told you that I'm glad you're going to be my uncle."

* * *

Later that night after lying in my bed for an hour unable to sleep, I finally push back the covers and climb out of bed. I start pacing the room going over everything in my head. After my dance with Alaric, Damon was suddenly no where to be found. I left the Salvatore house without saying good-bye to him and it left me feeling unsettled. I had to see him before he left. I quickly made a decision and went to my closet and threw on a hoodie and a slipped my feet into a pair a flip flops, grabbed by oversized bag and started to make my way out the door.

"Going somewhere?" a familiar velvety voice says from the window. I turn and I'm not surprised to find Damon's familiar form standing there.

I nod my head before putting my bag down and I take a few steps toward him. "I was headed to see you actually."

A look of surprise briefly flashes across his face but he quickly hides it. "Its late Elena, you know you shouldn't be wandering around in the middle of the night. It's dangerous."

"More dangerous than being in my bedroom alone with a vampire?" I counter.

"Touché."

I smile slightly at the smirk on his face, "What are you doing here Damon?"

He sighs before sitting down on the window seat behind him then looks at me. "You were right. I had been planning on leaving without saying anything to you, without saying good-bye."

"Why?"

"Honestly, I figured it wouldn't matter to you if I had left."

"That's crap and you know it Damon. You know that's not true," I say before sitting next to him with my body turned towards him.

"Do I?"

I took a moment and looked down at my feet to collect my thoughts before bringing them back up to meet his familiar expressive crystal blue eyes. "When you came into town I was afraid of you mainly because I didn't know what to expect and my knowledge of vampires came from the Founder's council, clearly a biased group. Then I hated you because you acted like this arrogant womanizing jerk who treated pretty much everyone like crap with the exception of me and Alaric." I said and he smirked leaning forward on his knees, "But then without my realizing it you broke down every defense I had. You grew on me and I…I don't know…I…I care about you Damon." I said sincerely looking into his mesmerizing eyes.

"Elena you shouldn't care about me. I'm not someone anyone should care about." He said adamantly but not taking his eyes off of mine. "I'm not worth giving a damn about."

"Why? Because you're a vampire or because you view yourself as some kind of monster?"

"I am a monster Elena!" he hisses, "There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. That is what I am."

"I don't believe that for a second Damon," I say shaking my head stubbornly. "You fight everything in your nature, all of your urges to kill and to feed on people, you fight it. I don't know why you do it but you do. You care even if you pretend not to, you came to this town because you knew Stefan would come back here and he probably wouldn't be able to control himself. You sent Ric here to make sure that didn't happen, my father was your friend and my father wouldn't be friends with someone who was a monster, you protected me, you gave my brother hope again. Would a monster really do all of that?" I say scooting closer and placing my hand on his face and he leans into it slightly, "You are not a monster Damon. Being a vampire doesn't make you a monster."

He doesn't say anything and instead pulls away and stands and turns away from me to look at the window. After a moment he turns back and looks into my eyes with a resigned expression on his face. "It doesn't matter Elena. What matters is that it's better that I'm leaving. It's better for everyone especially you."

"Shouldn't I be the one to decide what's best for me?"

"God you're so stubborn. You have your entire life ahead of you. Vampire free! No danger. Take it Elena!" he says throwing his arms out to the side exasperated.

"What if I don't want to?" I say softly before standing and bringing my hand up to touch his arm. "Damon I'm…I'm asking you not…"

"No….no don't." He says forcefully stopping me from saying anymore and I wonder if I look as hurt and stricken as I feel. "Don't ask me something you'll regret later."

I'm silent for a moment trying to find the right words to say knowing that he's on the defensive and will argue with everything I say. "Damon I think, no I know that I'd regret it more if I didn't say this to you…and well I want you…no I need you to hear it."

He starts to say something but I put my fingers to his lips silencing him. I look into his eyes and I can see a mixture of surprise and longing in them. "Don't leave." I say simply and quickly, "Stay. I'm asking you not to leave Damon."

He takes my hand and puts it down and looks at me sadly. "You shouldn't ask me that. You don't know what you're asking?"

"Yes I do, you're just so stubborn you won't hear me." I say forcefully. "Well I'm stubborn too and I'm not going to stop because you need to hear this. I want you to stay."

"Why?" he says and I can see a vulnerability in his eyes that I had never seen before. I grab his hands and intertwine them with mine. He looks down at our intertwined hands before bringing his eyes back up to mine.

"Because I…I care about you Damon. You make me feel in a way that no one has ever made me feel before. I don't know how to describe it and in my head and rationally I know it would be better if I lived a vampire free existence which would mean it would be better for me if you left." I said and he nods his head in understanding and looks down at the floor, "But the thing is the thought of you leaving it just breaks my heart and it makes me physically ill. Damon when I look at you, I don't see a vampire anymore. I just…I just see a man that I feel like one day…I well…I don't know…" I say shrugging. "What you really need to know Damon is that you've proved everything I originally thought about you wrong. You proved me wrong."

His head snaps up and the look of surprise on his face is evident. He's searching my eyes for what I'm assuming is a lie but I'm sure he doesn't see that. "Elena…"

"I can't make you stay, but I'm asking you to. Please."

"You don't know what you're asking Elena." He says shaking his head slightly but I can see his walls starting to crumble.

"You need to stop telling me how I feel or what I want." I snap. "I'm standing here telling you that I don't want you to go. I know how I feel about you right now; I know how I can possibly feel about you in the future." I take a step closer to him and lock my eyes with his, "stay Damon, give us a chance."

"You really mean it?"

"Yes."

Suddenly he pulls me flush against his body, his one hand snakes its way though my hair until it's resting on the back of my neck. "There's no going back after this you know?"

"We're already way past that." I whisper before I lean forward and press my lips to his. He responds immediately and pulls me closer, his lips pressing against mine hungrily. I feel his tongue against my lips and I part my lips to allow him entrance. He tastes like a mixture of scotch and honey, absolutely delicious and so Damon.

My hands start to wander and I trace the muscular planes of his back. He in turn has one hand in my hair slightly tugging at it and the other has found its way to my butt.

I bring my fingers to his belt and start pulling it loose but he stops me and pulls back suddenly and I feel confused. His eyes are dark with lust, his lips swollen from our kisses. "Why did you…don't you want…"

"No I do. You have no idea how much I do but it's just…" he says as he runs his hands through his hair pulling at it a bit. "I can't believe I'm saying this but we can't do this at least not now."

"What don't you want me?" I ask feeling slightly hurt, wondering what I had done wrong.

He takes a step closer to me and cups my chin and makes me look at him, "You have no idea how much I want you, what you do to me, but I…I…well you mean a lot to me Elena. Far too much and I don't want to ruin it. For the first time in my life I don't want rush something. Does that make any sense at all?"

"Yeah." I said smiling, "I think I get it, I think."

He kisses me softly and leans his forehead against mine and sighs.

"Do you think that for tonight you can just stay and hold me?" I ask.

"Yeah."

Damon scooped me up into his arms and laid me down on the bed and he lay down behind me and wrapped his arms around me. A feeling of contentment washed over me and after awhile I felt myself growing tired.

Hours later I woke up with a smile on my face. I turned in my bed with eyes still closed to reach for Damon only to be met with cold sheets. I opened my eyes and sat up looked around my room to find he wasn't there, but there was a note on top of the pillow. I picked it up with an uneasy feeling and read it.

_Sorry but I had to leave. I'll be back I promise but for right now I just need some time. D_

He was gone, he left, but then he did never say he would stay either.

* * *

_Eek...hope you like it. Please review. Thanks for reading it._

_The song referenced here is Rolling in the Deep by Adele._


	12. Don't Prove Me Wrong

Sorry this took so long. As much as I have wanted to, sitting in front of a computer and writing a story has proven to be extremely difficult, but finally here it is. It's slightly a shorter chapter than the others and a bit of filler but don't worry it's going somewhere I promise. If you've been reading this story please, please be patient with me. I really promise you're going to like where this goes (I hope).

Anyway, please review and I will try to get the next one out to you quickly.

O

* * *

**Twelve**

**Don't Prove Me Wrong**

_Four Months Later…_

In the weeks following Damon's departure to Italy with Stefan and Lexie, my life in Mystic Falls seemingly went back to normal. Seemingly being the operative word. My senior year began and I was soon back in a familiar and normal routine that existed before either Salvatore brother ever came to Mystic Falls. And what should have been a time of excitement and celebration for me was filled with nothing but quiet melancholy and it killed me.

Damon Salvatore…Oh man. I missed him; it was as simple as that.

In my head, and in all logical thinking it should have been a relief to me that he was gone. It should have been a relief that all of the vampires had left Mystic Falls but it wasn't. Not even close. I couldn't feel that relief. In the short time that the Salvatore's had been in Mystic Falls, they had definitely left their mark on the town, especially on me. One Salvatore in particular.

I felt his loss acutely. It was strange because I couldn't treat it like a breakup because we were never together and it was more than just friend leaving because he was more than that to me. There was no correct word to describe what Damon Salvatore was to me.

I was beyond frustrated because he had just left when we were just getting somewhere or at least I thought we had been. Maybe it was just a dream, but I replayed that last night in my bedroom over and over again and I was sure it had occurred. No I know it had. I told him that I had cared for him, he protested a bit but I got through to him and we kissed and he said he wanted to take it slow. How on earth had he gone from taking it slow to outright leaving town? He put a complete halt to everything is what he did.

Thinking about Damon was all I did. I desperately tried not to but my thoughts always wandered to him. It was pathetic and I knew it. The only thing that came out of my IPod lately was Adele and I swear I could relate to and understand every word she sang because it was exactly how I felt about Damon. I have never been the type of girl to moon over a guy, that's always been Caroline's department, but here I was doing exactly that. The worst part was that I'm sure everyone knew that the apparent change in my behavior was all because of him.

"No way, he did it! I can't believe he actually did it!" I heard Jeremy yell excitedly from downstairs.

I put my pencil down and ran down the stairs to see what Jeremy was yelling about it. I found him, Aunt Jenna and Alaric in the hallway smiling and looking over something in Jeremy's hand.

"What's going on?"

"He did it Elena, he got my drawings published in this magazine!" He said holding out a magazine. I grabbed it and I instantly recognized Jeremy's work on the marked page.

"Oh my God Jer this is amazing."

"Yeah this is amazing Jeremy I can't believe your work has been published." Jenna said smiling. "I feel like I've finally done something right around here."

"Thanks," he said running his hands through his hair with a goofy happy expression on his face. "He said he was going to do it and I sent him my stuff not really thinking he would but he did it he actually did it."

"Who?" I asked.

"What do you mean who?" Jeremy asked looking at me strangely.

"Who is this mystery person that helped you?" I said smiling as we all walked into the kitchen.

"Oh it's Damon." He said and my smile instantly fell and my eyes followed my brother as he nonchalantly grabbed the milk carton from the fridge and started drinking from it before Jenna grabbed it out of his hands and pointed at the glasses.

"Damon…Damon helped you?"

"Yeah." He said nodding his head before handing me a piece of paper. I looked down and instantly recognized Damon's familiar scrawl.

_Jeremy,_

_Thought you might like to see this. You did good kid. _

_Damon._

"When he looked at my work before he mentioned that he had a friend at this magazine who might be interested in taking a look at some of my work and possibly get it published." Jeremy explained.

"So you gave him some of your work before he left?" I said feeling slightly dumfounded holding the note in my hand.

"No it wasn't done yet. I mailed it to him a month ago."

"You mailed it to him a month ago?" I asked feeling like the ground was coming out from under me. Jeremy has been in contact with Damon? "You've been talking to Damon?"

"Yeah we've been emailing and he gave me his address." He said smiling, "Oh man, I've got to call Anna. She's never going to believe this. She's going to absolutely flip."

He left the three of us in the kitchen to go call Anna, his new girlfriend. I sat there on the stool feeling like I had just been hit by a truck…Jeremy and Damon had been communicating. How was that even possible? Damon hadn't responded to any of my text messages or emails but he was corresponding with my little brother, getting his stuff published in magazines. I tell him I care about him and I get nothing but my brother…

"Elena are you alright?" Jenna asked peering over at me with a concerned look on her face.

"Uh yeah, I'm just really happy for Jeremy. I can't believe it, it's really great." I said putting a perfected smile on my face. "Did you need help with dinner, I'm gonna go up and finish my homework."

Jenna shook her head I started up the stairs still holding Jeremy's note from Damon in my hands but Ric suddenly called out to me. "Elena can I talk to you for a minute?" he said looking concerned.

"Uh sure."

"Can we talk in private?" He said motioning to the front door. I nodded my head and followed him outside onto the porch.

"I take it from all of the questions to Jeremy that you haven't heard from Damon." he said watching me as I took seat on the bench.

"No, but not for lack of trying, he appears to be avoiding me." I say hearing the bitterness and anger in my own voice and I notice the wince on his face, "and from the look on your face I'm guessing you know all about this."

"I've spoken to him a few times. He checks in to make sure everything is ok or rather that you're ok. I finally called him on it that last time we spoke since you are always the last thing he asks about, actually he usually manages to mention you a few time. He tried to play it off though. I've also noticed the way you've been acting since he left." He said facing me and I turn away. "I tried to get him to call you but he's stubborn SOB."

I thought about it for a second and felt myself getting angry. "He obviously wants nothing more to do with me so what more is there to say. It's probably better that I haven't heard from him."

"Look Elena I won't even begin to pretend to know what goes on in Damon's head or what his motives for not contacting you are let alone anything, but if I know Damon at all its because he's trying to convince himself that you're better off without him."

"Or he just doesn't care."

"Do you really believe that?" he said looking at me with is brow raised and I shook my head knowing that it wasn't true.

"So what am I supposed to do, just sit around and wait for Damon to get a clue?"

He shrugged looking out at a car passing by before turning back to me. "Did I ever tell you how Damon and I met?"

"No." I said shaking my head looking at him curiously and the fact was I always did wonder how Alaric ever became involved with vampires.

"My wife Isobel was teaching at Duke, folklores and legends, weird right? I was teaching history at a nearby prep school, not nearly as cool. Isobel, loved her work, and somehow she became obsessed with these legends she found of the vampires in the South. She told me about these leads that she followed up on and unfortunately it put her in the path of some dangerous vampires." He said with a sad look on his face. "A group of vamps she came across through on of her leads made her believe she could trust them and one night they followed her home and believing they were trust worthy she made the mistake of inviting them in. When I walked into my house that night they were torturing her, and they made me watch as they tortured, fed on her and ra…" he stopped for a moment and I could see this emotion and anguish in his eyes as he relived that night, "Then all out of the blue Damon suddenly came in and killed all the vamps. He tried to give Isobel his blood to save her but it was too late. He told me that he had been helping Isobel with her research and he got wind of some bad vamps out for her because she was asking too many questions."

Ric paused and I saw a broken look in his eyes. "I was beyond angry and I vowed from that day on that I would make sure that vamps wouldn't hurt anyone like that again. Damon tried to talk me out of it but I guess when I confronted a few vamps on my own completely unprepared and in over my head he saw that I was determined to do it with or without his help so he started training me, probably to make sure I didn't die right away. He was determined to keep his distance from me and keep it strictly professional but I started to see he cared. We bonded and became unlikely friends."

"Damon, he…he likes everyone to believe that he doesn't care but I think his problem is, is that he cares too much and he believes everyone is better off without him, that he doesn't deserve to have anyone care about him in return." He said mater-of-factly. "All I'm saying is that I get that you have a right to be angry with him for leaving and not contacting you but it's not because he doesn't care."

"So you're saying that I should just let him get over himself and let it go?" I say.

He shrugged, "That's up to you to decide but from my experience Damon's not someone I'd ever give up on."

We both stayed silent for a while letting Alaric's words fall over us. "So I was talking to the guidance counselor the other day and she just happened to mention that you haven't applied to any colleges yet and it's nearly Thanksgiving, a lot of the deadlines are just around the corner."

I shrugged and put my hands under my legs and swung my feet. "I uh I haven't really thought about it."

"You haven't thought about it?" he said the surprise clear on his face. "Elena when I first met you, you couldn't stop talking about how you were planning on going to Yale or Georgetown. You had it all planned out." he said looking at me intently.

"I don't know I guess things just change." I say shrugging again wracking my brain, trying to find something else to talk about but coming up short.

"Come on Elena, you're smart and talented, how could you not be thinking about going to college?" He says before something seems to dawn on him and he nods his head. "You know I get that you've been through a lot, no one knows pain and heart ache like I do, but you owe it to yourself to move on, to move forward to not let the past dictate your future."

I just sit there and don't respond. I know he's right. I have about a dozen college brochures sitting in my room untouched and I can't bring myself to think about filling out any of the applications.

"Look I'm not saying you need to make any decisions right now, but I think you should at least go on some campus visits, check them out, see what you may like. In fact, I still have a few contacts at Duke, I can probably even arrange for you to stay with a friend there that's currently in their graduate program." he suggests looking at me hopefully.

"I…I guess that sounds ok."

"Great I'll set it up." he says. We both turn our heads when we hear Jenna call out announcing that dinner is ready. Alaric starts opening the door as I stand up to follow up but he suddenly stops and turns back to me. "I just want you to know that you're one of the strongest people I know Elena." he says sincerely.

"Thank you." I say and he nods his head.

Later that evening I went back to my room to study but it soon became impossible. Alaric's words regarding Damon kept coming back to me.

_He's trying to convince himself that you're better off without him_

That certainly sounded like something Damon would do, avoid me because he believes I'm better off without him.

_There's a fire starting in my heart  
Reaching a fever pitch, and it's bringing me out the dark  
Finally I can see you crystal clear  
Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your ship bare  
See how I'll leave with every piece of you  
Don't underestimate the things that I will do_

I turned my head towards my IPod listening Adele's familiar words and remembering when this song had played at the engagement party, feeling the words.

_There's a fire starting in my heart  
Reaching a fever pitch  
And it's bringing me out the dark_

_The scars of your love remind me of us  
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all  
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless  
I can't help feeling  
We could have had it all_

_Rolling in the deep  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)  
You had my heart inside of your hand  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
And you played it to the beat  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)_

_Baby, I have no story to be told  
But I've heard one of you  
And I'm gonna make your head burn  
Think of me in the depths of your despair  
Making a home down there  
As mine sure won't be shared_

_The scars of your love remind me of us  
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all  
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless  
I can't help feeling  
We could have had it all_

I let the words fall over me and suddenly I knew what I had to do.

_Rolling in the deep  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)  
You had my heart inside of your hand  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
And you played it to the beat  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)  
We could have had it all  
Rolling in the deep  
You had my heart inside of your hand  
But you played it with a beating_

I turned my laptop on and opened my email and started frantically typing an email to Damon.

_Throw your soul through every open door  
Count your blessings to find what you look for  
Turn my sorrow into treasured gold  
You pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow_

_(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
We could have had it all  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)  
We could have had it all  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
It all, it all, it all  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)_

_We could have had it all  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
Rolling in the deep  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)  
You had my heart inside of your hand  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
And you played it to the beat  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)_

_You could have had it all  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)  
Rolling in the deep  
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)  
You had my heart inside of your hand  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)_

_But you played it  
You played it  
You played it  
You played it to the beat_

_Dear Damon,_

_I can't say that I understand why you left or agree with it, but I think I get it. There are things that I said to you the last night we saw eachother that I need you to know that I meant. I know you're a vampire and I understand how dangerous vampires are. I'm not trying to naïve about it, but I also know that you're not the typical vampire. You have your humanity I hope you see that. Like I told you all I see when I look at you is a man, just a man. I wish you could see yourself the way I do. I wish you could understand and believe just how amazing you are and how deserving you are of love. _

_I'll you give the time you need, but with that time just remember that I'm still just a human and time for me is a little more precious than it is for you. _

_I believe in you Damon. You proved me wrong once, please don't do it again._

_Elena_

I re-read the email a few more times and I let my hand hover over the SEND button for a moment when another Adele song came on and I knew that I just had to let go and move forward so I hit send and let Damon go…for now.

* * *

A.N. - Ok in case you're all freaked out...she's not entirely letting him go more like deciding to not let herself wallow in what could have been anymore. She wants him to come back to her but he has believe that he's really worth it. I hope that makes sense, somewhere in my head when I was writing this it made sense to me. =)


	13. Familiar But Different

_Hey all - sorry for the super late post. I was pretty much all set to get this chapter out to you when I my computer ran a Windows update and then proceeded to crash out of the blue. No idea what happened but my year old computer was suddenly broken. So after a new hard drive I was able to get back on my computer only to find out that this chapter had disappeared. So here is a revised version of this chapter and actually this one might be better than I originally wrote but of course no one will ever know. LOL._

_Thank you all for being so patient with me and for those who have been reading this story and reviewing. It means a bunch. I hope to hear from more of you. Hope you all like it...let me know what you think please._

_O_

* * *

**Thirteen**

**Familiar but Different**

I stared up at the large house in front of me and back to the paper in my hand. 59327…Yup the numbers were definitely the same.

Wow. It was definitely something. Large didn't even begin to describe it. When Alaric had informed me a week ago that he had made arrangements for me to stay with a couple of his friends that were getting their masters at Duke, I imagined that I would be stuck on the couch of some small cramped apartment, having to fight for the bathroom, not boarding in some large house that could pass for a mansion for the weekend.

This should be interesting.

After a few more minutes of looking up at the house and debating whether or not I should knock, I walked up the few stairs and rang the door bell. A few seconds later an attractive woman with shoulder length brown hair answered the door and smiled at me.

"You must be Elena." she said smiling brightly and I immediately took note of her English accent. "I'm so glad you're here. I have been absolutely buzzing at the prospect of another girl being here even if it is just for a few days. You can't imagine what it's like being around all of these men all the time. It's absolutely exhausting, I feel like such a nag all of the time telling them to clean up all the time, it's not like they're complete pigs but you'd think they'd think clean clothes would be important…" she rattled off as I stood there amused on the porch. She kind of reminded of Caroline with her quick chatter and ability to make even the most annoying thing sound positive. I could tell I was going to like her. It must have dawned on her that I was still standing on the other side of the door because she threw her hand over her mouse and then laughed. "Oh goodness look at me, I just keep yapping away and you're still standing out on the porch. I'm sorry sometimes just don't know when to stop. Please, please come in." she said all very quickly before stepping aside so I could enter.

"Uh are you Rose?" I asked hesitantly before any kind of move even though I was pretty sure I knew who she was already.

"Oh did I not introduce myself? Oh goodness I'm so sorry, yes I'm Rose." She said. "Please don't mind me; I'm usually not this bad I swear, I'm just excited to meet you."

"Don't worry about it. I have a friend back home that you remind me of so I guess I'm used to it and uh its nice to meet you." I said before stepping inside. I looked around and It was definitely even more beautiful on the inside and I was definitely right about it being big. Yup definitely big. "Uh thank you so much for letting me stay here."

"Oh please it's no problem. You're practically family after all. Da…I mean Alaric talks about you, and Jenna and Jeremy so much I feel like I already know you." She says before motioning for me to follow her through a long hallway where we pass what appears to be the living room, dining room and large staircase, "So you're thinking about Duke huh?"

"Uh yeah I guess."

"Let me guess lots of options and you just can't decide." She said smiling, "You look like a smart girl, I bet there are loads of places that want you."

"Uh thanks, but it's uh more like the idea of college hasn't been that appealing lately." I answer feeling uncomfortable. "Ric set this up and I sort of felt obligated to go since he's been so concerned. So here I am, I figured I could at least say gave it a try."

"Well let's just see if we can't change your mind." She said smiling warmly. We entered the kitchen and just beyond it through a set of French doors I saw two men engaged in a lively conversation.

"Hey boys, our guest has arrived." Rose said and both men looked up, one was tall with sandy slightly longer hair and the other was shorter with light brown hair. "Boys this is Ric's soon to be niece Elena. Elena these are my flat mates Trevor and Slater."

They both greeted me warmly and smiled. The taller one stepped forward and grabbed my hand and kissed it. "Ah so you're Elena, it's wonderful to meet you, I'm Trevor. I must say you're even more beautiful than Da…uh I mean he described." He said and I looked at him curiously and pulled my hand back.

His smile disappeared and he frowned and as his gaze left my face and landed somewhere behind me. I turned and Rose was sending Trevor what could only be described as a death glare before a smiled suddenly appeared on her face when she noticed me looking at her.

"Uh who do you mean?" I asked unsure of what was going on between the two.

"Oh a uh…uh Ric of course." Rose said quickly with an uneasy smile on her face, "Ric said you were beautiful like your Aunt Jenna, but that just seems weird of him to say something like since he's going to be your uncle soon and all which reminds me I can't wait to meet Jenna. I so busy at the hospital all the time I would absolutely can't believe the old boy is getting married. If I wasn't come down. Maybe the wedding" She said quickly, so quickly I knew she was trying to change the subject on me.

Hmmm something was going on here.

"So uh what were you guys talking about when we came in, you seemed to be in a passionate discussion." I commented changing the topic myself while I tried to process the exchange between Trevor and Rose but I really couldn't because Slater started to ramble on about something that I just couldn't understand but had me completely fascinated. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't understand anything that he was saying but his passion about the subject and the way he talked about it had be absolutely mesmerized.

"Alright Slater I think that's enough…you're boring the poor girl." Trevor said chuckling and Slater looked at me expectantly.

"Oh no I'm not…uh I just didn't uh quite understand what you were talking about." I said sheepishly feeling myself grow hot. I wasn't used to this kind of talk. Is this what college is like because if it is it's definitely going to be different.

"Don't worry about it Elena, none of us understands anything that comes out of this bloke's mouth." Trevor says slapping Slater on the back.

I watched the three of them interact, teasing eachother, talking, laughing. There was something familiar but different about them but I just couldn't put my finger on it but it felt like I had seen it before. We sat there talking, I answered direct questions when asked but mostly I listened to them. After awhile I felt myself growing tired and yawned.

"Oh Elena I'm sorry you must be tired, why don't I give you a quick tour and show you where your room is at?" Rose thankfully said and she led me out through the main hallway to where the staircase was. "Sorry, once you get those boys going it's hard to get them to stop." She said once we were upstairs.

"No it was fine. Fascinating but I felt like it was just going all over my head. You guys are all so smart and you've done so much, studied so much and here I am not even sure if I want to go to college. I don't know it was just…well a lot." I said feeling really stupid and insecure.

"Don't worry you'll figure out what you want to do and as for the rest of," she said before opening a bedroom door and ushering me inside, "well Trevor is serious about nothing but likes to pretend that he is, Slater sees the world as though there is something new to be discovered everyday so he that sort of explains why he is the way he is and well me….well I'm stuck in a lab all day trying to make some kind of difference but sometimes I just wish it was possible to settle down, get married and have some babies," she said with a wishful look in her eyes, "But this is the 21st century and careers and accomplishment come first unfortunately."

She stopped at door and opened it and ushered me inside, "And this is your room."

"Wow." I said looking around. There was a large four poster bed, a dresser, television, two gigantic windows with beautiful views of the campus.

"I thought you'd like this one. It has a great view of the campus and an in suite bathroom." She explained motioning to a door on the other side of the room.

"I love it. I can't thank you enough for letting me stay here this is definitely more than I thought it would be. A few of my friends have had college visits and they said they've had to sleep on the floor of a cramped dorm room or someone's couch. I just can't believe I get my own room to sleep in, let alone a bed."

She laughed and smiled. "Well we're definitely happy to have you. It's not very often we get guests." She said starting to walk out of the room before stopping. "I don't know if Alaric mentioned it but we recently acquired another roommate, an old friend of ours. I hope you don't mind another male around. Like I said before I'm just happy to not be the only girl here for a change. There's far too much testosterone in this house."

"Yeah I bet."

"Look make yourself comfortable and we'll go grab some dinner and then I'll show you what a Friday night at college is like." She said winking and I nodded my head and she closed the door behind her.

I looked around me. It really was a beautiful room. I turned to look out the window and I gazed out at the Duke campus and took a deep breath. I couldn't shake this feeling in the pit of my stomach that things were about the change.

* * *

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew there was knock on my door and as I opened my eyes I was slightly taken off guard by my surroundings. There was another knock at the door and as my eyes fell on the window I realized where I was. "Elena."

"Oh uh come in." I yelled as I sat up.

"Elena." Rose said peeking her head through the door. "Oh I'm sorry I disturbed you. Were you taking a nap?"

"Yeah I think so. I sat down and just kind of fell asleep. I guess this bed is even more comfortable than it looks." I said running my fingers through my hair trying to push away the cobwebs in my head from my nap.

"Oh well look I'm so sorry Elena but I won't be able to take you out tonight like I promised you this afternoon. The hospital called and they're short staffed and they really need me to come in unfortunately but not to fear, our other roommate is on the way home and he said he would be more than happy to show you around. Oh and also Trevor and Slater had to leave so it's just going to be you and our other roommate. I hope that's alright but I don't want you to miss anything and the other boys are busy and oh I really need to go." She said quickly looking at her watch before running out and calling out. "I'll see you later."

After a moment of processing everything Rose had quickly said I realized she had never told me the name of their other roommate. I quickly jumped out of the bed and yelled after her, "Oh wait Rose you never told me your other roommate's na…" I said pulling open the door but the house was quiet, she was gone. Crap.

* * *

A half hour later I was in my room looking through my suitcase for something appropriate to wear for a night out when I heard the front door open and close.

"Hey Rosie I got your text, what do you mean you want me to show some kid around campus." I heard what sounded like a familiar voice yell from downstairs as he walked through the house.

No it couldn't be, could it?

I stood up and walked out of my room and started walking down the steps when he started yelling again.

"Rose are you home? You have some explaining to do. You know I don't babysit."

Oh my God!

"Roooose." He singsonged.

He was walking towards the stairs now.

"Rose this isn't fun…" he stopped mid-sentence as he looked up and found me looking curiously right back at him, surprise clearly written all over his face and in his familiar blue eyes.

"Elena."

"Hello Damon."

"Wha…what are you doing here?" he asked as his blue eyes bore into mine.

"Oh uh Ric arranged for me to stay here while I took a look at Duke uh for college" I explained.

"Ric arranged for you to stay here?" he asked looking angry, "In this house?"

"Yeah."

"Is he absolutely out of his mind?" he said pulling his phone out of pocket and dialing a number before putting it up to his ear in one swift motion. "I'm going to kill him," he muttered.

"What's going on? Who are you calling?" I asked walking down but he put his finger up.

"Ric what the hell were you thinking letting her stay here in a house full of vampires." He hissed and suddenly it all made sense why Rose, Trevor and Slater's actions all felt so familiar earlier. They moved just like Damon, Stefan and Lexie.

"Are you insane?" he said again after a moment. "You're supposed to protect her not put her in the line of fire….a full of vampires Ric….do you remember what happened when she was alone with Stefan….I don't care putting her in a house full of vampires is just stupid…. I'm putting her on the next bus back to Mystic Falls, no better yet I'll drive her back myself."

No he couldn't do that. I walked up to him quickly and grabbed the phone from him quickly and he looked surprised. "Ric it's Elena, I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here as planned and I'll be back Sunday evening as planned." I said to Ric looking right into Damon's angry blue eyes before ending the call.

"Are you as insane as he is? You are not staying here." He said adamantly glaring at me.

"Yes I am." I say just as adamantly. In actuality I feel like stomping my foot in protest but I thankfully refrain.

"Elena I did not leave you only to have Alaric stupidly put you back in danger by letting you be the only human in a house full of vampires." He says walking past me and marching upstairs.

I silently follow him letting his words run through my mind. I find him in my room throwing my things back in my suitcase. "I thought you were in Italy."

He stops what he is doing and bows his head before looking up at me. "I was."

"And obviously now you're not. When did you get back, actually let me correct that - not back because you're here at Duke not Mystic Falls." I say feeling myself getting angry now. "You left without a word, just some cryptic note on my pillow, you've been corresponding with my brother the whole time, you won't answer my calls or emails, you just disappear. I thought you were in Italy helping Stefan but in reality you were just here at Duke hanging out with what, sorority girls, getting your kicks."

"It's not like that Elena." He says sitting on the bed.

"No? So then tell me Damon what is it like?" I ask crossing my arms and leaning against the doorframe. "You left Mystic Falls to protect me from big scary vampire Damon."

He suddenly came over to me and grabbed me and pushed me against the wall before I even realized what was happening.

He leaned in close to me and I could feel his breath on my face. "I am a vampire Elena. I kill people and whether you want to think so or not, leaving you alone in Mystic Falls was good for you." He said looking at me. I looked into his eyes and suddenly my anger was pushed away. Damon was right in front of me and I had missed him.

"You left and you broke..." I started to stay softly but didn't finish and his face changed and he let me go and walked to the other side of the room. "How long have you been here?"

"A couple of weeks." He sighed.

"Why here?"

"I've known Rose and Trevor through my travels. It just felt like a good place to be at."

"It's not too far from Mystic Falls as well." I noted hopefully and he nodded his head in agreement. "So what have you been doing here? I mean Trevor, Rose and Slater are all doing something so I just figured…"

"I'm uh taking some classes…nothing too serious just seeing what I like. It's funny I've spent quite a bit of time at college campuses because well…you know, but have never taken a class before. It's all rather stupid really." He says shrugging.

"No I'm sure it's not." I say and we look at eachother but neither of us make a move or say anything for a minute.

"Look all of this aside, you really can't stay here." He says looking at me seriously.

"I'm staying Damon."

"God Elena why are you so stubborn all of the time!" he yells out putting his hands up. "You're in a house full of vampires. Do you not see how dangerous this is? You're like a walking shish kabob for everyone in this house."

"Are you telling me that Rose, Trevor, and Slater would hurt me?" I say and I see a brief flash of hesitation on his face. "That's what I thought. You and I both know that Alaric would never put me in a house full of vampires if he didn't know it was safe."

"That's beside the point Elena." He said.

"No that is the point Damon."

"You know what it doesn't matter because you're not staying here. No arguments." He states before zipping up my suitcase and picking it up and walking towards the door.

I closed the door quickly and stand in front of it defiantly. "Are you seriously trying to stop me from making you leave? You know all I have to do is pick you and throw you over my shoulder without any effort at all."

"Yes but you won't do it because you know how angry I will be at you plus you know I'm right. Staying here does not put me in any danger at all. We both know this place is probably the safest place on the whole campus, plus we both know you wouldn't let anything happen to me." I say leaning forward.

"My God you are beyond frustrating." He growls. I don't move and neither does he. We stand there staring at eachother until he growls again in frustration before putting my suitcase down. "One night that's it!"

"Nope, I'm here 'til Sunday as planned." I say and put my finger on his lips stopping him from saying whatever it is he is going to say in rebuttal. "Look Damon whether you like it or not I'm here and I'm not going anywhere until Sunday so you'll just have to deal with it. Now I believe Rose promised me that her roommate, you, would be taking me out to dinner which I'm hoping is true because as you vampires may have forgotten humans needs to eat every few hours and this human is awfully hungry."

I saw the frustration written all over his face as I removed my finger from his lips. "Fine grab you jacket and I'll take you out to eat." He said before walking past me muttering something under his breath. I smiled to myself. It felt like I had just won a small victory.


	14. Timeout

Hi everyone thanks for all of your great replies. You made my day. I can't believe I'm getting this out to you guys so quickly but this one just flowed out. It's slightly shorter than the rest, but I think you'll like it.

Please review and let me know what you think.

Thanks - O

* * *

**Fourteen**

**Timeout**

Damon took me to a pub just outside of the Duke campus and although it was just after 7 on a Thursday night it was already full. We grabbed a booth near the back and we sat there quietly, not speaking. In fact, Damon hadn't said one word to me the entire way to the pub, barely even looked my way even.

"Ok can we stop with the silent treatment already?" I say after about another five minutes of silence, giving him a pointed look.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He says fidgeting in his seat before calling the waitress over. He orders a scotch and a beer for me. He turns back to me and I glare at him. "What?"

"I get that you don't want me to be here, but do you think that for one night we can just take a timeout and pretend that we don't have any problems and that we're just two friends who haven't seen eachother in awhile and are just hanging out having dinner and having a good time." I say, "Do you think that we can just do that for a few hours."

He looks at me and seems to contemplate my words before sighing, "Alright, fine a timeout for a few hours." He says then leans forward, "But just for a few hours and then we're going to revisit you going back to Mystic Falls."

"Uh uh. Timeout remember." I say shaking my head.

"Fine, timeout. Did you want to shake on it or something?" he smirks.

"I don't think that's necessary." I say shaking my head and smile and so does he. The waitress comes back and sets my beer down in front of me quickly, nearly knocking it over and spilling some of it on me in the process before turning to Damon and slowly and carefully setting his scotch down. She bats her eyes and sticks out her chest and asks him if he's ready to order. He gives her his order without really looking at her and he turns back to me. She stands there looking at him for a minute longer and I just watch her attempt to get his attention and when she doesn't she huffs and starts walking away and I have to yell my cheeseburger order after her.

"What was that about?" he asks giving me a curious look.

"What was that about?" I ask incredulously. He gives me a confused look and I laugh slightly. "Uh did you not notice that waitress standing there desperately trying to get your attention!"

He just shrugs and takes another sip of his scotch. I look at him and he shrugs again and puts his hands up. "What do you want me to say, I didn't notice."

"You're Damon Salvatore, isn't it usually your thing to flirt with anything female?"

"Maybe, but maybe she's just not my type, did you think of that Elena."

"She's not your type? Did you hear me earlier when I said you normally chase after anything female?" I say pointedly. "I don't think you have a type Damon. Anything with boobs will work for you I'm sure."

"Are you jealous?"

"No."

"Eh. I beg to differ."

"Please Damon I'm just pointing out that girls are always throwing themselves at you. Hell since we've arrived every girl in this place has been checking you out." I say looking around and finding a lot of girls giving me dirty looks.

"And…" he says nonchalantly.

"Ugh well it's good to know at least your ego is still intact." I say rolling my eyes.

"Look yes it may have been true in the past that I would hook up with anyone who was interested without a second thought but…" he said before leaning forward holding my gaze, "I'm not interested in that waitress or any other girl in this place for that matter. Tonight I'm here with you. Timeout remember."

The way he looked at me in that moment, it felt like he was looking right into my soul and I could feel myself flush all over and I'm unsure of what to say. There is a part of me that is completely ecstatic but with Damon I've learned to tread carefully.

He breaks contact and his eyes travel around the pub before turning back to me smirking, "You know you failed to see one thing in your observation of the patrons of this establishment because for as many women are starting at me, you failed to notice that you're getting just as many looks from the male population as well." He said smirking.

I looked around and I guess there were a few guys looking in my direction. In fact one raised his glass and smiled at me when my eyes landed on him. I looked away quickly and look back at a very amused Damon. "Well like you said they can look all they want to but I am here with you."

His eyes met mine and I could see that he wanted to say something but didn't. We just sit there for a few beats staring at eachother only breaking eye contact when the waitress comes back with our food.

"You may want to inspect your food, she may have spit in it, you know since you're here with me." He says smirking and I laugh as I start removing the pickles from my burger and he balks at me.

"What?"

"You don't like pickles?"

"No. They're gross."

"What are you talking about pickles are delicious." He says before picking the pickle I discarded up from my burger and popping it into his mouth. I look at him amused and he just smiles back at me and gives me a wink.

"So checking out Duke huh?"

"Yeah I guess." I say shrugging.

"You guess?" he repeats giving me a curious look.

"Well I'm here aren't I Kind of obvious?" I say before taking a bite of my burger wishing we could drop this subject.

"Yes despite the fact that I tried to send you back." He mutters picking up a French fry and popping it into his mouth studying me. "What's wrong Elena? Other than the fact that you happened upon me unexpectedly, you don't seem exactly thrilled to be here."

"I…I am. Duke is a good school." I say avoiding his gaze and pushing a fry around my plate.

"Oh that was convincing." He says rolling his eyes.

"What Duke is a good school?" I say defensively.

"Yes, but you and I both know that you don't want to really be here so why don't you tell me why you're really here because I'm pretty sure you didn't come here for me since you didn't know that I was here until about an hour ago." He says giving me a knowing pointed look.

"Aren't we supposed to be taking a timeout?" I say trying to change the subject but he just gives me another look. I sigh as I think of what to say. "Fine well as you know Alaric set this up. I haven't uh well I haven't exactly been into looking at colleges or even celebrating senior year so much." I confess.

"What you're not living up your senior year. You were talking about it like crazy during the summer. This is supposed to be the best year of life." He says.

"Yeah well it hasn't felt like it and I think you mean Caroline was talking about it non stop." I say quickly, "But Ric set this up and Jenna was so excited at the idea of me attending college so here I am. Plus you knew my dad, so you know how important it was to my parents that I go to college so I figure if it would be a good idea to at least check this one out."

"So you're doing this for everyone but yourself is what you're telling me."

"No, I'm doing this for me…sort of." I say feeling myself get angry mainly because Damon was right. "Look don't you dare analyze me Damon. A year ago I would have been all over this college visit, Duke has always been one of the schools on my list, but things have just felt different since my parents died and even worse since…well it doesn't matter." I say raising my voice, "I'm sorry if I'm just going through the motions being fine and living out my senior year and looking at colleges. I'm sorry if I'm not living up to your expectations or anyone else's. Don't you think I want to be into all of this, to be happy but I just…I just…I'm here and I'm doing it so just let me do it ok without analyzing me and dangit I thought we were having a timeout."

"Ok. Ok." He says putting his hands up in surrender but I can see the worry in his eyes.

We sit there in silence finishing our food. "So do you like it here?"

"Uh yeah. I've spent some time here before and well Rose, Trevor and Slater are an interesting group to be around." He says shrugging.

"So why did you choose Duke?"

"They've got good sororities…lots to choose from." He says wiggling his eyebrows and I throw a fry at him laughing.

"Be serious."

"Uh well…I've been here before and well it's uh close enough to Mystic Falls." He says looking right at me.

I look into his eyes and I shake my head feeling myself get riled up again. "You know I don't get you. You tell me you care more about than anyone else but then just when we're getting somewhere, you leave because you don't think you're good enough or you don't deserve me, I haven't quite figured out which one. The worst part about it is that I'm pretty sure you were never planning on coming back, at least not anytime in my lifetime. But you do sort of come back only it's to a place that's not very far away for I'm assuming so you can rush back if something does happen."

"Elena."

"No Damon I need you to listen to me. I get that you don't think you're good enough for me, that you believe you're a monster no matter what I say." I say shaking my head, "And I really can't believe we're having this conversation again but you just seem to have us going around in circles."

"Well we wouldn't have to be going around in circles if Ric hadn't decided to put you in the house full of vampires. There's thousands of other colleges and he just so happens to pick the one that he knew I was at. Not exactly subtle." He says frowning and I just stare at him, a cold realization enveloping me.

"You really weren't planning on ever coming back were you?" I ask quietly.

He sighs and looks at me sadly before shaking his head. I look at him, studying his face, memorizing every feature before putting my napkin on the table and getting up from the table and walking away. The pub is now crowded and it's difficult for me to weave my way out. Once I finally make my way outside I let out a breath and just start walking. A few moments later I vaguely here someone calling my name and then in the next second Damon is in front of me with his hands around my arm holding me in place.

"Where the hell are you going?" he asks angrily.

"What? You don't want to be around me anymore right so I'm making it easy and I'm leaving you alone." I yell at him. "Timeouts over Damon."

He growls and lets go of my arms and throws his hands up in the air and paces around before taking a breath and coming back towards me. "Don't you get it Elena, I don't want to not be around you."

"What the hell does that mean?" I ask confused.

"The hell if I know."

"Seriously Damon? Is this a game to you? I'm giving you an out right now." I say feeling my emotions all over the place. "You know how I feel. I think I've made myself perfectly clear on that front more than once and I'm not doing it anymore. I'm done. I get it you're the big bad vampire but we both know that it's not so clearly black and white with you so I'm done. I can't make you change your mind so I'm done, I'm walking away." I say putting my arms up trying to pass him but he stops me and I glare at him.

"I can't let you do that." He says softly.

"Damon."

"No I need you to listen to me for a minute Elena. No matter how hard I try I can't let you just walk away from me despite the fact that I know it's the best decision for you." He says looking into my eyes and his hands comes up to my hair. "I can't stay away from you no matter how hard I try."

"So what I'm like some kind of drug to you…you're just addicted."

"You really are incredibly stubborn you know that." He says and I roll my eyes. "In over 160 years no one has ever made me feel the way that you do. Not Katherine, no one. The way I feel about you Elena it scares the living crap out of me. I'm not supposed to feel this way, no one is supposed to feel anything about me but scared Elena but you… I wish for nothing more than for you to hate me, fear me. It would be so much easier. I should compel you to just forget about me."

"Damon…"

"I can't do that though because with you it's all real." He says softly stroking my cheek. "Do you know how scary that is for someone like me?"

"Damon, this is your last chance," I say my voice a meer whisper as I stare into his eyes. "This is your out if you want it…take it."

"I couldn't do that even if I wanted to."

"Why?"

"Because I love you." He says his face so close to mine.

"Wha…what?"

"I love you Elena." He says looking into my eyes and I feel my knees start to shake. "I love you despite how wrong I know it is, but I love you just the same."

"You love me?" I question staring into his eyes. "That's good."

"No…no it's not, not even in the slightest. It's the most dangerous thing in the world for you."

"Now you just sound like Edward." I say smiling.

"Are you seriously comparing me to that stupid sparkling vampire." He scoffs starting to pull away but I pull him back.

"Well you are trying to stay away from me to save me so you do have your similarities, but I'd take you over him any day of the week." I say smiling slightly and he does as well, "Ok so you won't let me walk away and you say you love me, so where does this leave us."

He sighs and traces my jaw with his finger, "Under my own better judgment I guess it means that we're going to give this a shot."

"Good." I say smiling feeling very victorious, "so then I can do this…" I lean forward and bring my lips to his lightly, barely brushing it, teasingly and he growls and pulls me closer to him deepening the kiss.

After what feels like an eternity we pull away when oxygen becomes necessary. "Wow." I say as he leans his forehead against mine. "And just so you know I kinda love you too."


End file.
